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STAN DISH MONUMENT 



EXEKCI8ES AT THE CONSEORATiON, 



DUXBURY, AXJG-UST 17, 1871 



STANDISH HOUSE. 




Built 166(i. (Still Standing.) 



MYLES STANDISH, 



WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE 



EXERCISES OF CONSECRATION 



MONUMENT GROUND ON CAPTAIN'S HILL, 



DUXBUKY, AUG. 17, 1871. 



PREPARED BY STEPHEN M. ALLEN, 
Corresponding Secretary of the Standish Memorial Association. 




BOSTON: 

ALFRED MUDGE & SON, PRINTERS, 34 SCHOOL STREET. 

1871. 



r£8 
Sg 



CAPTAIN MTLES STANDISH. 



The character of the Pilgrims of New England probably 
stands out with more force and is as marked and distinctive as 
that of the pioneer settlers or conquerors of any country of 
which we read, while the result of their influence upon the na- 
tionality they created has been much wider spread, more various 
and beautiful, and giving life to a more liberal national and re- 
ligious sentiment than that ever before engrafted in the hearts of 
any people. The Norman conquest, from which so much has 
been claimed for humanity, though so cruel and devastating in 
its first effects, and which for eight hundred years has exerted 
such an in3uence in the Old World, was conceived in sin, sel- 
fishness, and an unholy ambition, and was established with a 
vengeance diabolic and almost unheard of in the history of 
nations. The landing of the Pilgrims, and the settlement of 
Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay, on the contrary, gave birth to 
national ideas which were the off'spring of a pure and supremo 
love of Deity, a free and untrammelled worship, and a govern- 
ment of universal liberty, based upon Christian principle, pre- 
ceding, in all cases, the cravings for worldly gain or ambitious 
personal preferment. Tiie sterling worth of a people in humble 
lite, that would forsake home, friends, and country, cross the 
trackless ocean, and settle upon a frozen, barren shore, with 
privations and sufferings before them which they were certain to 
meet, shows the possession of a moral strength and force, that, 
perpetuated in their descendants, gives the New England people 
an ancestry of which they may justly be proud. Sucli were the 
founders of Plymouth in 1620, among whom there was one, a 



representative man, worthy in every respect to become a leader, 
who, without pretensions to special piety, worshipped acceptably 
at their shrine, guided their settlements, laid out their grounds, 
drew plans for their mills, collected and disbursed their money, 
sat for years at their council board, commanded their military 
forces, subdued their savage and bloodthirsty enemies, all 
without ever losing the confidence of the colony, or being doubted 
either as a Christian, citizen, soldier, or financier, and who died 
after long years of service, beloved and lamented to a degree 
seldom found in the conflicting associations of life. 

Captain Myles Standish was born at Lancashire, England, 
probably in 1584. He descended from a long and illustrious 
line of ancestors of that name. Descending from Thurston de 
Standish and Ralph Standish, his family was divided and desig- 
nated as the Standishes of Standish, and the Standishes of 
Duxbury Hall. They separated, — "Jordan" becoming the 
proprietor of Standish, and " Hugh " of Duxbury, one upholding 
the Catholic, the other the Protestant religion. The baronetcy 
of Standish, erected in 1676, became extinct in 1812. The 
family seats are situated near the village of Chorley, in Lan- 
cashire, and the property is large, the income being some five 
hundred thousand dollars per annum. The records of the par- 
ish from 1549 to 1652 were thoroughly searched a few years 
since by Mr. Bromley, the agent sent out by the heirs of Stan- 
dish in this country, the result proving to his mind that Myles 
Standish was the true and rightful heir to the estates which 
were surreptitiously detained from him. Justin Winsor, in his 
History of Duxbury, says: "The records were all readily deci- 
phered, with the exception of the years 1584 and 1585, the very 
dates, about which time Standish is suppesod to have been born ; 
and the parchment leal, which contained the registers of the 
births of these years was wholly illegible, and their appearance 
was such, that the conclusion was at once established, th.it it 
had been done purposely with pumice-stone, or otherwise, to 



destroy the leo:aI evidence of the parentage of Standish, and his 
consequent title to the estates thereabout. The mutilation of 
these pages is supposed to have been accomplished, when, about 
twenty years before, similar inquiries were made by the family 
in America. The rector of the parish, when afterwards re- 
quested by the investigator to certify that the pages were gone, 
at once suspected his design of discovering the title to the prop- 
erty, and taking advantage of the rigor of the law (as he had 
entered as an antiquarian researcher merely), compelled him to 
pay the sum of about ,£15 or suffer imprisonment." 

Miles was educated to the military profession, and early re- 
ceived a commission as lieutenant in Queen Elizabeth's forces 
on the Continent, in aid of the Dutch. He repaired to the Neth- 
erlands, the seat of war, where he remained a short time after 
peace was declared, but soon joined the English refugees of 
Leyden. He joined the first company of Pilgrims for America, 
and on their arrival on the coast was sent out in the command 
of the shallop with sixteen men, to make discoveries along the 
shore. After spending nearly a month in various expeditions, 
surveying the diflerent bays and channels, he reported in favor 
of the harbor of Plymouth as a settling point, where the final 
landing was made. He was soon elected to the chief military 
command, a position he retained till his death, thirty-six years 
afterwards. There is, perhaps, no parallel of his military expe- 
rience in the early settlement of the country. 

"Standish affords us not only an instance of the nerve of the 
Pilgrims, but a type of their hearts." His courage was indis- 
putable. In his various expeditions against the Indians he 
wanted but few men, and the choice of these he claimed for 
himself. He was always a leader in every hazardous undertak- 
ing, and the people, confiding in his bravery and prudence, were 
ever ready to place themselves under his command, and in the 
most trying conflicts they felt themselves secure. His actions 
show a forbearance rarely met with in one of his profession ; 



6 

while in the time of decisive action, his courage and persever- 
ance were equal to the boldest resolutions. 

Winsor says: "In 1G23 Standish was sent by the Governor, 
with orders to break up a plot of the Indians, which, it was 
learned, had been formed to destroy the settlement and massacre 
the inhabitants of the English colony at Wessagusset, now Wey- 
mouth. On this expedition, the most celebrated one of his life, 
and which is possibly a fair criterion of his character, he chose 
but eight men, refusing any more. On arriving at the settle- 
ment ho found the people scattered, wholly unconscious of their 
impending danger. Having quickly assembled them, he informed 
them of their situation, not, however, without exciting the suspi- 
cions of the Indians. Soon after, an Indian bringing the Captain 
some furs, he treated him ' smoothly ' ; yet the Indian reported 
that he saw by the Captain's eye that he was angry in his heart. 
And at another time, Pecksuot, an Indian warrior of reputed 
courage, said to Hobomok, Standish's guide and interpreter, 
and an inmate of his household, that he understood that the 
Captain had come to kill him and the rest of the Indians there ; 
but tell him, said he, we know it but fear him not — neither will 
we shun him, let him begin when he dares; he shall not take us 
unawares. And again, a little after, in the presence of Standish, 
whetting his knife before his face, and boasting of its quality, he 
said to him, 'Though you are a great Captain, yet you are 
but a little man ; and though I be no sachem, yet I am a man of 
great strength and courage.' On the following day Pecksuot, 
Wittowamat, and his brother a youth of eighteen, and another 
Indian, with Standish and about the same number of his own 
men, being in a room together, the signal was given by the 
Captain, and the door instantly closed and fastened. Then 
seizing Pecksuot, he snatched his knife from his belt, and his 
men fell upon the others. A short struggle ensued, which ended 
in the death of Pecksuot by Standish, and that of the other In- 
ians, save the youth, whom they afterwards hung. Hobomok, 



who stood by a silent spectator of all that passed, then smilingly 
exclaimed, ' Yesterday Pecksuot bragged of his own strength 
and stature, and told you that though you were a great Captain, 
yet you were a little man ; but to-day I see you are big enough 
to lay him on the ground.' 

" Consider the situation of Standish. Upon his decisive action 
at this moment we cannot but feel that depended much, — not 
merely the preservation of the company to whose succor he had 
come, but the existence, perhaps, of the whole colony. Had 
they been successful in their designs here, elated by their 
recent victory, they would have made the settlement of Ply- 
mouth the next object for their depredations, and the lives of 
the whole colony would have fallen victims to their cruel bar- 
barity. His was not distant from the foresight of the captain. 
He struck a mighty blow, and, by determined action in a time 
of doubt, dispelled the fears of his followers and sent terror 
upon the enemy. This action needs no apology. He acted 
but the part of a brave defender of his country, who feels that 
upon his own vigorous exertions the defence of the people de- 
pends. And, says his biographer, men of his profession will 
admire his courage, his promptitude and decision in the execu- 
tion ol his orders." 

No one has ever charged Standish either with failures in 
point of obedience, or of wantonly exceeding the limits of his 
commission. He is called by Prince one of those heroes of 
antiquity, "who chose to suffer affliction with the people of 
God; who, through faith, subdued kingdoms; wrought right- 
eousness; obtained promises; stopped the mouths of lions; 
waxed valiant in fight, and turned to flight the armies of the 
aliens." 

Near the close of his life, he was made commander of the 
expedition against the Dutch, and, although far advanced in 
years, he was still considered the best person upon whom the 
command could devolve. In his commission and instruction, he 



8 

is spoken of as one " of whose approved fidelitie and abilitie 
we have had long experience." 

Standish's services to the colony were of hardly less import- 
ance in their civil than in their military affairs. He held the 
office of an assistant and deputy during the whole of his life, 
was treasurer of the colony from 1644: to 1649, and once he 
was sent to England, as their agent. Scarcely an appraisement 
was made, where the colony were interested, but Stan dish was 
on the commission, unless otherwise occupied. About the year 
1630, he settled in Duxbury, on a tract of land granted to him 
by the colony, and which has since been known as tiie Standish 
farm. Upon this farm the celebrated Captain's Hill is situated. 
Tradition fixes his house on the southeastern part of the penin- 
sula, where there still remain the walls of two cellars, singu- 
larly joined at one end. It is supposed that the cellar of one 
part was constructed to accommodate a storehouse, built after 
his death, in 1656, by his son Alexander, which was supposed 
to have been burned some time during the next nine years, or 
previous to 1665. The present Standish house was erected by 
Alexander Standish, partly from old timbers taken from the 
remains of his father's house. This fact is fully verified by the 
appearance of the beams in the present building, which show 
not only the marks of former use, but bear traces upon them of 
the use of a whip-saw, an implement which antedated the 
establishment of saw-mills. It is also supposed that the hearth- 
stone, as indicated in our engraving, belonged to the former 
house, as well as the doors and latchings, of which we also give 
a representation. There is nothing left to give the true size or 
shape of the original house, though the timbers that were trans- 
ferred to the new one were mostly of oak, and were very 
strong. They are still quite sound, and show the old mortises 
and tenons used for the first house, in many places. The barn, 
so far as is known, was on the south slope of Captain's Hill, 
not far from the large rock, now sometimes called the " Cap- 



9 

tain's Chair." The homestead estate, contaiaing about one 
hundred and fifty acres, was left, by will, to his son Alexander, 
who lived on it till his death, in 1702. 

Alexander devised the homestead to his son Myles, who re- 
sided on it till his death in 1739. The latter left a numerous 
family. He also had a son Myles, who inherited the property, 
but who removed to Bridge water, and died in 1784. The 
mother of the last named, and one sister, remained at the old 
home, and were probably the last of the family who resided 
there. The estate was sold by Myles, July 3, 1763, to Samuel 
and Sylvanus Drew, who disposed of the property to Wait 
Wadsworth, and from his hands it passed to George Faunce, 
and descended to his children ; then a part was purchased of his 
grandson, George Faunce, and a part of Luther Pierce, by the 
present proprietor. The descendants of Captain Standish are 
very numerous, and are scattered through the whole country. 
Some remain in New England. Moses Standish, Lemuel Myles 
Standish, and one or two brothers reside in Boston, and William 
and Benjamin Standish, and perhaps some others, still reside in 
Duxbury and Plymouth County. 

The Standish tract contains some of the finest land in the 
county of Plymouth, a part of which, on the east side, was tlie 
Elder Brewster place. Of Captain's Hill the historian of Dux- 
bury says : " This hill formed a part of an early grant to Captain 
Standish, who settled near its base, and whose name it still 
bears. It is situated on a peninsula, which extends in a south- 
easterly direction, between the bays of Duxbury and Plymouth, 
and contains about two or three hundred acres of good soil, 
little inferior to any in the country in fertility." 

"■ While in other portions of the town the soil is sandy and 
unproductive, and a considerable part in no state of cultivation, 
this peninsula is furnished with a deep and fertile soil. The 
same may be said of the highland on the Gurnet, Saquish, and 
many other similar spots around the bay, where the soil is in 



10 

immediate proximity to the sea. Clark's Island in some parts 
possesses a mould, which, if equalled, is scarcely surpassed in the 
country; and while the northern and western sides offer the 
most desirable qualities for pasturage and grain, its southern 
and eastern declivities present a perfect garden, abounding 
with trees, through whose foliage, even during the summer's hot- 
test months, stir the breezes from the sea. The summit of the hill 
is about four hundred yards from the sea, and about one hundred 
and eighty feet above its level, and when once attained, presents 
a view to him who communes with nature, and who has pon- 
dered over the history of the early Pilgrims, is acquainted with 
their character, and has conceived the purpose of their exile, — to 
him it presents a spectacle which has in times past, and which, I 
conceive, must ever cause an impression on his mind, not easily 
lorgotten, and scarcely to be eradicated. Full as it is of the most 
pleasing associations, it calls up in the mind of the beholder those 
reminiscences which gladden his heart and arouhe his soul into 
being, and clothe him with all the nobler feelings of mankind, 
dormant as they may lie within the deep recesses of his heart. 
Nor is the loveliness of the scene itself any the less an efficient 
agent of holy influences ; both cause one to tremble, irresistibly, 
and to offer praise to his Maker. The circumstances, to be 
sure, add to the attractions of the spot; but its beauty, its sim- 
plicity of grandeur, its busy scenes, and its still, silent loneliness 
give to it a power whose effects need not be mentioned. Select, 
should you visit it, the closing hours of a summer's day, when 
the burning heat of the declining sun is dispelled by the cooler 
shades of approaching evening, and ascend to its height. Now 
as the retiring rays of day form on the heavens above a gorgeous 
canopy of variegated hues, so on nature's face below all bright- 
ens into richness, and the verdure of her covering softens into 
mildness; the shining villages around, and the village spires 
towering against a background of unfading green, add gladness 
to the scene. The glassy surface of the bay within, with its 



11 

gentle ripplings on the shore beneath, the music of the dashing 
waves on the beach without, give quiet to the mind and peace 
witliin. Before you, in the distance at the east, appear the 
white sand-hills of Cape Cod, shining beyond the blue expanse, 
and seeming to encircle by its protecting barrier a spot dear to 
t,he heart of every descendant of that Pilgrim band. Still 
nearer, at your feet and before you, are the pleasant bays of 
Plymouth, Kingston, and Duxbury, enlivened by passing boats, 
and sheltered by the beach from a raging ocean, crowned at its 
southern extremity by a light-iiouse, and with the extending 
arm of Saquish enclosing the Island of the Pilgrims ; turning 
your eyes to the south, they fall in succession on the promontory 
of Manomet; on the ancient town of Plymouth, rising beneath, 
and as if under the protection of the mound beyond, the resting- 
place of the Pilgrim's dead, on the villages of Rocky Nook and 
of Kingston. Extending your eye over the extent of fores t to 
the northwest, you see the Blue Hills of Milton, ascending far 
above the surrounding country; while nearer, at the north, 
are the villages of Duxbury and Marshfield,] scattered over 
the fields, whose white cottages, shining in the sun, offer a 
pleasing contrast to the scene. Below you and around you 
once arose the bumble abode of the Pilgrims. Who can g aze 
upon the spot which marks the site of the dwelling of Standish, 
without feelings of emotion? who can but give thanks that that 
spirit — ^ 

'A spirit fit, to start into an empire 
And look ttie world to law ' — 

had been sent amongst them, to be their counsel in peace and 
their protection in danger? Who can but admire its ready 
adaptation to a sphere of action so totally different from the 
school of his youth? Here also arose the dwellings of Brews- 
ter, who having followed in his yoath the retinue of kings and 
princes, preferred a solitary retreat in the western wilds, and 



12 

there to worship his God in peace. Here, too, was the abode 
of Collier, who, under every circumstance of danger, strove with 
unceasing toil in the discharge of every duty necessary to the 
welfare and prosperity of the colony. Here, too, can be seen 
the spot whereon the habitation of Alden was, whose prudent 
counsels and whose rigid justice attained for him a rank in the 
estimation of the colony, alike an honor to himself, and a sub- 
ject of pride to his descendants. Turn your vision as you may> 
and you will feel that you are gazing on a scene of more than 
ordinary interest, full of the most grateful recollections, and of 
a nature the most agreeable and pleasing." 

** Scenes must be beautiful, whicli daily viewed 
Please daily, and whose novelty survives 
Long knowledge and the scrutiny of years, — 
Praise justly due to those that I describe." 

" Hose, the first wife of Myles Stan dish, died at Plymouth, Jan- 
uary 29, 1621, about a month after the landing. She was among 
the first to succumb to the privations of that terrible first winter. 
He married a second wife (Barbara), who survived him. 

" To his house on Captain's Hill, Standish removed after his 
second marriage, and here he drew around him a devoted class 
of friends, among whom were the elder Brewster, George Par- 
tridge, John Alden, Mr. Howland, Francis Eaton, Peter Brown- 
George Soule, Nicholas Byrom, Moses Simmons, and other set, 
tiers ofiDuxbury. 

*' The Indians also loved as well as feared him, and the faithful 
Hobomok ever kept near to minister to his wants, and was the 
faithful guide in his travels. This devoted Indian died in 1642, 
having faithfully served his master twenty years, and is supposed 
to have been buried on the south side of Captain's Hill, near 
the great rock called ' The Captain's Chair.' Tradition fixes 
his wigwam between two shell mounds on the shore near the 
Standish place, till taken home to the house of Standish, where 
he became an inmate till his death." 



13 

THE WILL OF MYLES STANDISH. 

In the Plyraoiith Colony Records, vol. ii., pages 37, 38, is 
recorded the will of Standish, dated March 1, 1655. In this he 
devises that if he " die at Duxburrow, my body to be laid as 
near as conveniently may be to my two dear daughters, Lora 
Standish my daughter, and Mary Standish my daughter-in-law." 
After the payment of debts and funeral expenses he ordains that 
" my dear and loving wife Barbara Standish shall have the third 
part " of the estate. 

4. I have given to my son Josiah Standish upon his marriage 
one young horse, five sheep and two heifers, which I must upon 
that contract of marriage make forty pounds, yet not knowing 
whether the estate will bear it at present; my will is that the 
residue remain in the whole state, and that every one of my four 
sons, viz., Alexander Standish, Myles Standish, Jcrias Standish, 
and Charles Standish, may have forty pounds api:ce; if not, 
that they may have proportionable to the remaining part, be it 
more or less. 

5. My will is that my eldest son, Alexander, shall have a 
double share in land. 

6. My will is that so long as they live single that the whole 
be in partnerships between them. 

7. I do ordain and make my dearly beloved wife, Barbara 
Standish, Alexander Standish, Myles Standish. and Jerias Stan- 
dish, joint executors of this my last will and testament. 

8. I do by this my will make and appoint my loving friends, 
Mr. Timothy Hatherly and Captain James Cudworth, super- 
visors of this my last will, and that they will be pleased to do 
the office of Christian love, to be helpful to jny poor wife and 
children by their Christian counsel and advice; and if any dif- 
ference should arise, which I hope will not, my will is that my 
said supervisors shall determine the same, and that they see 
that my poor wife shall have as comfortable maintainance as my 
poor state will bear, the whole time of her life, which if you my 



14 

loving friends please to do, though neither they nor I shall be 
able to recompense, I do not doubt but the Lord will. 

By me, Myles Standish, further my will is, that Mary Robin- 
son, whom I tenderly love for her grandfather's sake, shall have 
three pounds in something to go forward for her two years after 
my decease, which my will is my overseers shall see performed. 

Further, my will is that my servant, John Irish, Jr., have forty 
shillings more than his covenant, etc. 

9. I give unto my son and heir apparent, Alexander Standish, 
all my lands, as heir apparent by lawful descent, in Ormstick, 
Borsconge, Wrightington, Maudsley, Newburrow, Crawston, and 
in the Isle of Man, and given to me as right heir by lawful 
descent, but surreptitiously detained from me, my great-grand- 
father being a second or younger brother from the house of 
Standish of Standish. 

The above described will, as indorsement states, was pre- 
sented for probate by Captain James Cud worth. May 4, 1657. 
some time after the death of Captain Myles Standish. 

Captain Standish is perhaps better known through Mr. 
Longfellow's charming poem relating to his courtship of Pris- 
cilla, than through the dry records of New England history, 
The historians of the Plymouth Colony have failed to give us 
the details of that remarkable wooing, leaving it to the poet to 
embalm the romantic story in his beautiful verse. We copy 
from the poem the following description of the doughty Cap- 
tain : — 



KITCHEN OF THE STANDISH HOUSE. 







15 

" In the Old Colony days, in Plymouth the land of the Pilgrims, 

To and fro in a room of his simple and primitive dwelling, 

Clad in doublet and hose, and boots of Cordovan leather, 

Strode, with a martial air, Myles Standish the Puritan Captain. 

Buried in thought he seemed, with his hands behind him, and pausing 

Ever and anon to behold his glittering weapons of warfare. 

Hanging in shining array along the walls of the chamber — 

Cutlass and corselet of steel, and his trusty sword of Damascus, 

Curved at the point and inscribed with its mystical Arabic sentence. 

While underneath, in a corner, were fowling-piece, musket and matchlock. 

Short of stature he was, but strongly built and athletic. 

Broad in the shoulders, deep-chested, with muscles and sinews of iron; 

Brown as a nut was his face, but his russet beard was already 

naked with patches of snow, as hedges sometimes in November." 

Captain Standish, in his old age, so far as can now be ascer- 
tained, enjoyed good health till his last illness. His vigor, both 
of mind and body, seemed as strong and fresh as in his early 
dajs. He combined in a pre-eminent degree the practical use 
of intuition and intellect; and when convinced of the wisdom of 
a plan, however suddenly made, he executed it with great rapid- 
ity. His temperament was sanguine and impulsive, but through 
the whole course of his life, he seemed to exercise a wonderful 
control over his passions. 

He loved nature more than art, and entered with his whole 
soul into the enjoyments of his home and farm at Captain's Hill. 
His domestic and social life, and the great variety in the 
associations around this spot, seemed to captivate and control 
his very being. Here the careworn soldier found rest, — but 
rest only through that usefulness which ever brings happiness. 
Ever active and earnest, the full measure of his soul was drawn 
out in the many opportunities before him to serve his fellow- 
man, and the reward sank deep into a warm and tender heart, 
full of appreciation and love. The impetuous dreams of early 
life, the sense of wrong and injustice wliich drove him from the 
fatherland were here soothed and put to rest, and perhaps for- 
ever buried from thought in the consciousness of the emptiness 
of title, the possession of wealth, and the glitter of courts and 
palaces. 



16 



STANDISH MEMORIAL. 



The great interest taken by tlie public in the erection of some 
suitable memorial to Captain Myles Standish, has properly 
taken the subject from the hands of a few of his immediate 
descendants, and placed it in charge of the American people at 
large, the representatives of whom, as shown by the list of the 
officers of the Association, are fully capable of taking care of 
the subject in all its bearings. The military of the United 
States very naturally claim a large share in perpetuating the 
memory of the first commissioned military officer of the New 
World, especially when the martial character of the man, after 
more than two hundred and fifty years' test, still stands out 
almost unparalleled in the history of the country. 

It has often been said that the military powers of Standish, 
together with his great executive ability, and incessant labor in 
the various departments of the colony, saved it many times from 
dissolution. Be that as it may, there is abundant evidence that 
the colony always held him in high confidence and respect. 
The last commission against the Dutch, so near his death, proves 
that even in his old age their confidence was not diminished. 

Members of the Grand Army of the Republic alone would 
cheerfully erect a monument; but some of our first merchants 
and citizens are too sensible of the great service of our soldiers 
to allow them to be at this expense, and offer liberally in its 
behalf. It is to be presumed that the sum of fifty thousand 
dollars can be easil)' raised for such a purpose. President 
Grant and many of his Generals have signified their hearty ap- 
proval of the object, and citizens from almost every part of the 
country offer their aid and support. 



17 

The spot chosen for the monument is Captain's Hill, on the 
old Standish Farm, at Duxbury, where Captain Standish lived 
and died. This Farm was given him by the colony about 1630, 
and remained in the family till the middle of the last century. 
The hill is one hundred and eighty feet high, and overlooks 
Plymouth and Duxbury Bays, and is now much used as a sight- 
ing point to navigators in entering Massachusetts Bay. When 
the shaft is up it will be most useful to the coast survey as well 
as to navigators. 

Thus, after two and a half centuries, this tribute is offered to 
the memory of one who left the allurements of wealth, luxury, 
and power, for the wilderness of New England, there to give a 
life service in sowing seeds for the fruit we to-day enjoy. 



STANDISH MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION. 

Article 1st. The object and purpose of this Association is 
to cause to bo erected a suitable and proper Memorial Monu- 
ment, Obelisk, or Tablet, to the memory of Captain Myles 
Standish, on or near Captain's Hill, Duxbury, Massachusetts. 

Art. 2d. — The Board of Directors of the Association, for 
the time being, shall constitute the Board of Management, and 
have full power to act and do all things necessary to secure the 
object of the Association, appoint agents and assistants, and till 
all vacancies in their board. 

Art. 3d. — The property and funds of the Association may 
be held by one or more trustees, or a treasurer, who, with the 
officers of the Association, after the year eighteen hundred and 
seventy-one, shall be chosen by the subscribers to the fund, 
under such rules or by-laws as the directors or subscribers may 
adopt at any regular meeting. 

Art. 4th. — The officers of the Association shall be a Presi- 
dent, one or more advisory or Vice Presidents, Trustees and 
Directors, Secretaries and Treasurer, and such other officers or 
3 



18 

agents as may be appointed or chosen for the necessary pur- 
poses of the Association ; and the Selectmen of Duxbury are to 
appoint or approve the first officers of the Association. 

Art. 5th. — The President, or any five Directors, may call a 
meeting of the Directors when needed. The annual meeting for 
the choice of officers and other business shall be held, after 
notice, the first Tuesday of January in each year. All officers 
iray hold over till new ones are elected in their place. 

Art. 6th. — An Executive Committee of twelve shall be 
chosen, who shall have special charge of the planning and build- 
ing the Monument, under the control of the Board of Directors. 

Art. 7th.— The foregoing Constitution, Rules, and Specifica- 
tions may be altered and changed by the subscribers or directors 
at any regular meeting of the officers of the Association. 

Duxbury, December 21st, 1870, and the two hundred and 
fiftieth anniversary of the landing of Myles Standish with the 
Pilgrims, at Plymouth, on the '2 1st day of December, 1620. 



Officers of the Association appointed and, approved by the Select- 
men of Duxbury, July 4th, 1871. 

President. — Gen. Horace Binney Sargent. 

Advisory Presidents. — His Excellency Marshall Jewell, 
Connecticut; His Excellency James A. Weston, New Hamp- 
shire; Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, Massachusetts; Rev, Dr. 
George Putnam ; Gen. Joshua L. Chamberlain, Maine ; Hon. 
Alexander H. Rice; Dr. George B. Loring; Hon. John H. Clif- 
ford, Massachusetts ; Gen, A. E. Burnside, Rhode Island; Hon. 
Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, Boston; Hon. E S. Tobey, Boston; Hon. 
Horatio Harris, Boston. 

DiRECioRS. — Hon. Onslow Stearns, Concord, N. H. ; Hon. 
Thomas Russell, Boston; Nathaniel Adams, Boston; Lemuel 
Myles Standibh, Boston; Samuel Little, Boston; Samuel Loring, 



19 

Duxbury; Nathan Matthews, Boston; Frederick 0. Adams, 
Kingston; Francis Standish, Boston; William Whiting, Boston; 
Nathan ^Morse, Boston; Isaac Keene, Duxbury; Jonathan S. 
Ford, Duxbury; Rev, Josiah Moore, Duxbury; Dr. James Wilde, 
Duxbury; James Ritchie, Boston ; S. M. Allen, Boston ; Edwin 
Adams, Boston; Edwin 0. Bailey, Boston; Stephen N. Gifford, 
Duxbury; Joseph S. Beal, Kingston; Alden S. Bradford, King- 
ston; George B. Standish, Duxbury; Alden B. Weston, Dux- 
bury; Elbridge Chandler, Duxbury; Hamilton E. Smith, Dux- 
bury; Oliver Ditson, Boston; John G. Jackson, Boston; Dr. 
Gushing Webber, Boston; Gen. B. F. Butler; Jonas Fitch, Bos- 
ton; Jacob H. Loud, Plymouth; George Bradford, Duxbury; 
John S. Loring, Duxbury; Harrison Loring, Boston; Joseph W. 
Coburn, Boston; Alden Frink, Boston; W. S. Danforth, Ply- 
mouth; George W. Wright, Duxbury; Dr. Calvin Pj-att, Dux- 
bury; Parker C. Richardson, Duxbury; Job A. Turner, Boston; 
Joshua M. Gushing, Duxbury. 

Secretary. — Stephen N. Gifford, Duxbury. 

Corresponding Secretary. — Stephen M. Allen, Boston. 

Treasurer. — Jacob H. Loud, Plymouth and Boston. 



Committees chosen at the meeting at Duxbury, Aug. IT, 1871. 

Executive Committee. — Nathaniel Adams, of Boston ; Lem- 
uel Myles Standish, Hon. E. S. Tobey, Samuel Little, Francis 
Standish, James Ritchie, S. M. Allen, Edwin Adams, Jacob H. 
Loud, Harrison Loring, Job H. Turner, Gen. H. B. Sargent. 

Finance Committee. — Horatio Harris, Hon. Alexander H. 
Rice, Hon. E. S. Tobey, Nathan Matthews, Oliver Ditson, Dr. 
Geo. B. Loring, Samuel Little, Jacob H. Loud, Nathaniel 
Adams, Jonathan S, Ford, George B. Standish, Gen. B, F. But- 
ler, George W. Wright, Jonas Fitch, W. S. Danforth, Hon. 
Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, Rev. Dr. George Putnam, and Joseph 
S. Beal. 



20 



EXERCISES OF CONSECRATION ON CAPTAIN'S HILL 
DUXBURY, AUGUST 17, 1871. 



The first train on the new Duxbury and Cohasset Railroad 
arrived at the Duxbury station at seven o'clock the evening pre- 
vious, with freight and passengers, and bringing a section of 
two guns and twenty men of the First Battery, under command 
of Capt. E. C. Langley and Lieut. I. C. Foster. On the morn- 
ing of the seventeenth, on the arrival of the cars and steamboat, 
the exercises of the day commenced with the firing of one hun- 
dred guns by the batttery. 

A procession was formed at the depot, under tlie direction of 
Joshua M. Gushing, the marshal of the day, the Standish 
Guaids, Lieut. Lanman, commanding, acting as escort. 

Arriving at the monument grounds, the assembly were called 
to order by Gen. Sargent, President of the Association, and 
the Executive and Finance Committees were appointed, and the 
exercises progressed as follows : — 

MUSIC BY THE WEYMOUTH BAND. 

Hail to the Chief. 



PRAYER. 

BY REV. JOSIAH MOORE. 



ODE TO MYLES STANDISH. 

Air — America. 

Sung by the Audience. 

All Hail, departed Chief! 
Tlie Nation to thee brings 
An oflering free ; 



21 

Not of mere bronze or stone, 
Nor set on hill alone, — 
Our memories long have flown 
O'er land and sea. 

Fond hopes In Britain left. 
Of wealth and power bereft, 

Still, spirit free. 
You braved the ocean's roar. 
You wooed a frozen shore. 
That we might evermore 

Wed liberty. 

That seed of freedom sown, 
Through frost and blood hath grown 

A Nation free 1 
An empire, great in trust, 
A people full of rest. 
Millions, thus happy blest, 

All honor thee. 

After the singing, General Sargent was formally introdaced 
to the audience, by the Secretary, Mr. Gilford, and addressed 
them as follows: — 

oratio:n^. 

BY GEN. HORACE BINNEY SARGENT. 

It would have been more fitting to the grandeur 
of a noble memory that a disthiguished connection of 
Myles Standish should have addressed you to-day. 
It would have been most agreeable to myself, as well 
as to you, that one. of the many, illustrious by letters 
or by deeds, with whom the Pilgrim blood is blessed, 
should enjoy the honor of speaking before an au- 
dience familiar with the simple, grand traditions 
which I can only repeat like a twice-told tale to you. 
I crave your courteous patience for my short recital 



22 

of a well-known story, and my reverent tribnte to a 
life supremely brave. 

Two memorable pictures, representing widely sep- 
arate decades, hang on the wall of American history. 
Two and a half centuries span the gulf of time be- 
tween the first decade, when a little band of English- 
men floated into Jamestown, and another little band, 
a few years later, became entangled in the shoals of 
Cape Cod; and the last decade, when, with a shock 
of arms that shook the world, the descendants of the 
Cavaliers, repeating English history, surrendered the 
wreck of all their armies, — infantry, cavalry, and 
cannon, — with all hope of separate empire, to tne 
descendants of the Puritans and to national suprem- 
acy; each combatant bound to the other, henceforth 
forever, by mutual reverence for proven valor; 
both, victor and vanquished, destined to stand here- 
after, shoulder to shoulder, against the world in arms, 
and clasp each other's hands as brethren, — joint 
heirs of all America ! 

The giant timbers of English oak with which 
Nelson humbled France would once have been an 
easy prey to the tiniest squirrel of the wood. And 
the germ acorn did not more differ from the line-of- 
battle ship, than did the colony of the Mayflower 
from our veteran nation of to-day. As the oak had 
gathered to itself all elements of the universe from 
ten thousand storms and showers, until its top 
reached out to heaven, and its roots, like anchors, 
grappled with the world, so the colonies have incor- 
porated the energies and assimilated the qualities of 



'2'6 

many peoples. But the germ principle has controlled 
them all. As no method of culture, no fertilizing 
agent, no icy cold or fiery heat, would have devel- 
oped the acorn into anything but the oak, so the 
Pilgrim spirit, while absorbing, with all the vigor of 
vitality, the masses of life, wealth, poverty, ignorance, 
and culture that have been wafted to these shores, 
could grow into nothing else than an independent, 
popular government. Dissenters from those who 
dissented — even from dissent — must necessarily 
have founded a state with an inborn, hereditary ten- 
dency to rebel against assertion of creed or sceptre. 
The fugitive residents of the home-like community of 
Leyden, which, after an exhausting war, had chosen 
the princely boon of a university rather than immu- 
nity from onerous taxation, might naturally develop 
that cradle of independent thought, — the common 
school-house. 

But to develop anything, it was first of all essential 
that the Pilgrim colony, stranded on a sterile cape in 
a l!*rew-England winter, among savages, should sur- 
vive. And the wonderful providence of God is not 
more evident in the protecting husk that he gives to 
the ungerminated acorn, with which, amid the thun- 
der of battle, he purposes to override a nation, than 
it is in creating the Moses and the Joshua to lead an 
infant people. The rough tent of a trooper, the 
unsurveyed forests of Virginia, the flat-boat of the 
Mississippi, the rude log-cabin of the West, as well 
as the sheep-folds of Israel or the cattle-shed of 
Galilee, may contain the fate of empires. 



24 

About the time that all Christendom was in mourn- 
ing for the murdered Prince of Orange, and deploring 
in his death the overthrow of the bulwark of the 
Protestant faith, a little fair-haired child was playing 
among the hedge-rows of England, who was destined 
to learn the art of war in the armies of that king's 
more warlike son. Prince Maurice, then a boy of 
seventeen, and to be a tower of defence to the unsol- 
dierly Pilgrim colony of Protestant America. 

That child — whose bones, after nearly fourscore 
years of toil and war, were laid somewhere on this 
hill-side, perhaps under our unconscious feet — was 
Myles Standish, the great Puritan captain ! He was 
born about the year 1580, of English ancestry, dating 
back to rank and opulence as far as the thirteenth 
century. Of his childhood, little is known. To de- 
feat the title of his line to lands in England, the rent- 
roll of which is half a million per annum, the hand 
of fraud is supposed to have defaced the page that 
contained the parish record of his birth. Unjustly 
deprived of these vast estates, as he avers in his 
will, in which he bequeaths his title to his eldest son, 
it seems probable that he went to Holland near the 
time of his majority. Queen Elizabeth signed his 
commission as lieutenant in the English forces, serv- 
ing in the Netherlands against the cruel armies of the 
Inquisition. As she died in 1603, about two years 
after his majority, it is not improbable that we are in- 
debted to that first disappointment, which may have 
driven him, in his early manhood and some despair, 
into the army. 



25 

From 1600 to 1609, the year of the great truce 
between Prince Maurice and the King of Spain, the 
contest was peculiarly obstinate and bloody. In this 
fierce school the Puritan captain learned the temper 
and art of war. 

From 1609 to 1620, a period of truce but not of 
civil tranquillity, the Low Countries were inflamed 
by those theological disputes of the Oalvhiists and 
Arminians which brought the excellent Barneveldt 
to the scaffold, and drove the great Grotius — a 
fugitive from prison — into exile. In this school, per- 
haps, Myles Standish learned some uncompromisino- 
religious opinions, which brought him into sti-ange 
sympathy and connection with the Pilgrim church in 
Leyden. Both periods seemed to leave their impress 
on his character. The inventory, recorded with his 
will, mentions the Commentaries of Cassar, Bariffe's 
Artillery, three old Bibles, and three muskets, with 
the harness of the time, complete. His Bibles were 
old. A well-worn Bible for every musket- and, 
thank God, a musket, not an old one, to defend each 
Bible! 

The schedule of his books, some forty in number, 
records nearly twenty which are devotional or reli- 
gious. With the memory of one act of singularly 
resolute daring, when, in obedience to the colonial 
orders to crush a great Indian consj^ii'acy, he took a 
squad of eight picked men into the forests, and 
deemed it prudent to kill the most turbulent warrior 
w^ith his own hands, we may imagine how the pilgrim 
soldier, friend and associate of Brewster, disciple of 



26 

the saintly Robinson, rose from the perusal of one 
of the old Bibles, or of " Ball on Faith," " Sparkes 
against Heresie," or " Doclcl on the Lord's Supper," 
to stab Pecksuot to the heart with his own knife ; a 
giant who had taunted him with his small stature in 
almost the very words of Goliah, in his insulting 
sneer at David, long before; and to cut off the head 
of Watawamat, which bloody trophy the elders had 
ordered him to bring home with him. We can im- 
agine him on the evening of that cheaply victorious 
day, taking more than usual pleasure in the exultant 
psalms of the warrior David, and in a chapter of 
Burroughs's " Christian Contentement" and "Gospell 
Conversation," especially as he had his three muskets 
with bandoleers, and Bariffe's Artillery, close at his 
hand. One can feel the unction with which the val- 
orous pilgrim would religiously falfil the colonial 
order to smite the heathen hip and thigh, and hew 
Agag in pieces before the Lord. 

!N^ot originally, and perhaps never, a member of 
the Pilgrim church, and possessing many traits which 
might have belonged to the fierce trooper, in an army 
whose cavalry was the legitimate descendant of 
Caesar's most formidable enemies, — the Batavi, cele- 
brated for cavalry qualities, and long the body-guard 
of the Poman emperors, — the appearance of the 
somewhat violent soldier, in the saintly company 
of Parson Pobinson's church, is an anomaly. 

It has been proven many a time, from the days of 
Bannockburn, when the Scottish host sank on its 
knees to receive the benediction of the Black Abbot 



27 

of Inchaffray, even to our own late day, when many 
of the best fighting regiments were blessed ivith the 
most earnest chaplains, that men never tender their 
lives more gallantly to God and mother-land than 
when they are fervently preached to and prayed for. 
Yet the all-daring contempt for peril, the rough- 
ness of temper, the masterly economy with which 
Standish saved human life by consummate indiffer- 
ence to personal homicide upon prudent occasion, his 
power of breathing his own fiery heart into a handful 
of followers, till he made them an army able to with- 
stand a host in the narrow gates of death, would lead 
us to expect such a colleague for the saintly Brewster 
as little as we should expect to see Sheridan — 

" Cavalry Sheridan, 
Him of tlie liorses and sabres we sing" — 

prominent among the Methodists. 

In truth, with the poem of our sweetest and most 
cultured bard in our minds, and with the memory 
of those fierce monosyllables with which our great 
cavalry leader rolled back defeat upon the jubilant 
rebel host, and rescued victory at Winchester, fancy 
can depict the foaming black horse pressed into the 
rush of the shell-shattered guidons by the iron gripe 
of knees booted in " Cordovan leather," and imagine 
that little Myles Standish rode that day in the saddle 
of little Phil Sheridan. 

To the genealogist, who believes that names rep- 
resent qualities and things, it is not unpleasing to 
find in the family record of Standish and Duxbury 
Hall, in the parish church of Chorley, Old England, 



28 

the name Milo Standanaoght. To stand at nothing-, 
in the ivay of a duty commanded by the civil authority, 
seemed the essence of character in Myles Standish; 
and thoroughness stamps the reputation of the name 
and blood to-day. 

The materials for personal biography are scanty. 
His wife. Rose Standish, — an English rose, — whose 
very name augurs unfitness for a New-England 
winter on an unsettled cape, died within a month of 
the landing. A light tradition exists that his second 
wife, Bai'bara, was her sister, whom he left an orphan 
child in England, and sent for. She arrived a 
woman grown, and the valorous captain added an- 
other illustration to the poet's story, that Venus and 
the forger of thunderbolts were married. 

From the first anchorage, Captain Standish, as 
the soldier of the company, was charged with all 
deeds of adventure. At first, certain grave elders 
were sent with him for counsel. But ultimately his 
repute in affairs, both civil and military, was such that 
he was for many years the treasurer of the colony, 
and, during a period of difficidty, their agent in Eng- 
land. As a soldier, he was evidently the Yon Moltke 
of the Pilgrims. They invested him with the gen- 
eral command. Even in extreme old age — the very 
year that he died " very auncient and full of dolor- 
ous paines " — he received his last and fullest com- 
mission against new enemies, his old friends, the 
Dutch. 

It is singular that among the primitive people, who 
must often in the later Indian wars have missed his 



29 

coimsel and conduct, as the poet describing Venice, 
sighs, — 

" Oh ! for one hour of blind old Dandole," 

no clear tradition has descended of the phace where 
the war-worn bones of the soldier-pilgrim lie. Sent, 
like Moses, to guide and guard a feeble people to a 
promised land of power that he might never sec, no 
man knoweth his burial-place until this day. 

More than one hundred years ago, the following 
paragraph appeared in the Boston "JS^ews-Letter," 
dated Boston, January 22,1770: "We hear from 
Plymouth that the 22d day of December last was 
there observed by a number of gentlemen, by the 
name of the Old Colony Club, in commemoration of 
the landing of their ancestors in that place." 

The fourth toast on that occasion, a hundred and 
one years ago, was, " To the mejnory of that brave 
man and good officer, Capt. Miles Standish." 

Over the graves of the guests at that dinner, — 

"For fifty years the grasses have been growing." 

But the principle of public fidelity shares the immor- 
tality of God and Truth. Reverence for it never dies 
till the decay of nations. And to-day we come to- 
gether, the dwellers in the city and the dwellers on 
the shore, men of every age and all professions, to 
dedicate one spot of this parental soil for an enduring 
monument to the same Myles Standish of the same 
unfaded record. The sunlight of near three hundred 
years, that has shone fatally on many a reputation 



30 

since his baby eyes first saw the light of England, 
has only bronght out the lasting colors of his fame. 
Believing, as I firmly do, that he was a useful, a 
necessary citizen, because he was " that brave man 
and good officer" at a time when soldierly qualities 
were essential to the very life of the infant colony, it 
seems to me providential for the colonists that one of 
their number was, by temper and training, unable to 
sympathize with that soft tenderness for human life 
which is wont to characterize saintly-minded men, 
like the Rev. Mr. Robinson, who, when he heard of 
the marvellous conflict where Standish, with three or 
four others, in a locked room, killed the same number 
of hostile chiefs that were gathering their tribes to 
exterminate the English, uttered these sorrowful 
words: "Oh! that you had converted some before 
you had killed any! " The soldier practised that ter- 
rible piece of econojny which no saint of the com- 
pany would have dreamed of doing with his own 
hand. To borrow the diction of the time, the gaunt- 
let of the man of wrath was the fold of the lambs of 
God. It was fortunate for us who believe in Ply- 
mouth Rock, that one trained soldier, who had faced 
war conducted by the Duke of Alva, came out in the 
Mayflower. Some little love of high position, some 
thirst for gain in ofiice, some disposition to confer 
office on men for their "forwardness" rather than for 
their fitness, were seeds of weeds that the Mayflower 
brought over to the congenial soil of America. Even 
in the second expedition inland from the barque, " the 
Gunner was sick unto death," " but hope of trucking 



81 

made him go." It is to be feared that the mantle of 
that gunner falls upon some camp-follower in every 
regiment. 

Had the fate of the Pilgrims depended on such 
motives, Elder Brewster and his company would have 
been buried m some Krossaness, like the earlier 
explorer, the son of Eric the Ked, and American 
civilization might have been for centuries deferred. 

Myles Standish represented the true idea of public 
service, vigorous fidelity and trained fitness for his 
place. In his single heroic person he exhibited the 
true idea of the army, — skilled military force in loyal 
subordination to the civil authority. The confidence 
that the colony reposed in him to execute their most 
difficult commands as a citizen soldier, seems to prove 
that he revered, in the words of Mr. Robinson's fare- 
well sermon, "the image of the Lord's power and 
authority which the magistrate beareth," — words 
that can never be too forcibly imjDressed on the minds 
of the penny-wise, who would diminish the dignity of 
the magistrate's office by inadequate compensation, 
or destroy his mdependence by the vulgar device of 
the social charlatan, gifts to supplement judicial sala- 
ries. If one may venture on such high speculation, 
it may be that God is just, partly because he is 
supreme, and to Him belongs the earth "and the 
fulness thereof," Freedom from obligation is of the 
essence of independence in the magistrate who bears 
" the Lord's power and authority." 

As a dissenter from dissenters, saturated with the 
spirit of liberty, Standish, as an agent of authoi'ity, 



32 

never fell into the heresy with which the rogues of 
the body poUtic cajole its fools, — that a weak execu- 
tion of the laws, an imbecile or impotent manifesta- 
tion of government, is test or evidence of freedom. 
]S^or did the ISTorthern Pilgrims ever fancy that a 
government founded upon compact was less pan- 
oplied with positive authority, within its sphere, than 
the superior government of the crown. 

Even wheu every English life was precious to the 
settlements, the Pilgrims did not hesitate to execute 
three Englishmen for the murder of one Indian. In 
flying from civilization to a desert in pursuit of lib- 
erty, the Pilgrims did not fly so fast and far as to 
leave majestic law behind them. That dear, pale 
banner of the State, which the great-hearted, true- 
hearted, stout-hearted war minister of Massachu- 
setts, John Albion Andrew, of all-blessed memory, 
thanked God that no one of fifty-three regiments 
then in commission had ever left on any field of bat- 
tle, bears the device that might have been inspired 
at that early hour, — an Indian erect, in all the dignity 
of manhood, ready for peace' or war, and the armed 
hand of protecting power raised above him, ready to 
guard or smite, and the legend Ense petit placidam 
sub lihertate quietem. 

And this is the end and path of government, — 
the armed hand, seeking serene rej^ose, under lib- 
erty, by the sword, raised, but not needlessly 
descending; or if kept in the scabbard, kept always 
sharp. 

To us, who sometimes ignore the uncancelled, un- 



30 
O 

paid debt of the nation to the military academy, and 
to the professional soldiers who there learned the art 
of victory; — to us, who sometimes imagine that the 
practice of gymnastics, with a musket, makes all the 
difference between a citizen and a citizen soldier, and 
dispenses with that code of new sensations, subordi- 
nation, the soldierly habit of mind and temper, exact 
obedience and reverent loyalty to authority, which no 
muster-field or training-day can give, and which 
nothing but military discipline in a camp of instruc- 
tion can inspire ; — to us, who have learned, by bitter 
experience, how much time and blood and gold it 
costs to convert a patriotic mob into an effective army 
of soldier citizens; — to us, who are suffering oppres- 
sive taxation for our ignorance and forgetfulness that 
true economy is always to be prepared for war, a 
blunder and a crime which we have no moral right to 
fasten upon the purses of posterity, for the blunder 
was our own; — to us, thus criminal and suffering, 
it is profitable to reflect, that if Myles Standish had 
not been a trained soldier, the reverend heirs of the 
elders of the little church of Ley den would probably 
have adorned the Avigwams of " the Massachusitts." 
His grand heart might have been as true and loyal 
and brave as it was; his arm — now dust, mouldering 
somewhere under the sod of this hill-side — might 
have been as strong. But if he had not learned from 
his own experience, and the well-conned commentaries 
of his beloved Caesar, how contemptible are the most 
vigorous and patriotic multitudes without real disci- 
pline, Plymouth Rock would have been of no impor- 



31 



tance except to some leisurely antiquarian; JSTorthem 
civilization would have been smitten with sudden 
death by savage tribes ; even this beautiful headland 
might have been tilled by Virginian slaves to-day. 

Special fitness for special work — education 
adapted to a purpose — is the lesson taught by the 
Pilgrim life. Well might we profit by it, in teaching 
the industrial arts of common life to the pupils of 
our common schools, which now, neglecting the 
practical arts of daily household duties, fill the w^orld 
with helpless people, — starving, lady-like teachers, 
without pupils; accountants, who have nothing to 
add up, — useless members of society, ignorant of 
every duty that a home demands, and demanding a 
home that their refinement craves and station cannot 
give. That even the Pilgrims found, that overmuch 
unpractical culture was incompatible with provision 
for the needs of rugged life, is indicated by the fact 
that the second generation was less refined and more 
skilled in practical arts than the first. 

To be the founders of states is the first of glories, 
according to Lord Bacon. The career of our Pil- 
grim hero is a beautiful illustration of an educa- 
tion fitted to the great mission for which he seemed 
peculiarly, strangely ordained. 

In grateful memory we consecrate this spot of earth 
to a monument of the great Puritan captain. May its 
shadow fall upon his grave! For two centuries the 
stars have looked upon it. At what moment of the 
ni"-ht the circling moon may ])oint it out with shad- 
owy finger, no mortal knows, ^o mortal ear can 



35 

hear the secret whispered to the night, " Beneath this 
spot lies all of a hero that could die." 

High as the shaft may tower over headland and 
bay, deep as its foundation-stones may rest, brightly 
as it may gleam in the rising or setting sun upon the 
mariner returning in the very furrow that the keel 
of the Mayflower made, the principles of common- 
sense, a citizen soldier's education for a citizen sol- 
dier's work, the principles of moral truth, manly 
honesty, prudent energy, fidelity incorruptible, cour- 
age undauntable, all the qualities of manhood that 
compel unflinching execution of the states' behest, 
— are firmer and higher and brighter still. And to 
crown them all is reverence to the Supreme Execu- 
tive of Earth and Heaven, who knows no feebleness of 
heart or hand, and whose great purpose moved the 
war-worn Pilgrim's feet to seek his home upon this 
rock-bound continent, where the unceasing weaves 
of two unfettered oceans roar the choral hymn of 
Freedom. 

General Sargent's address was listened to with marked attention 
and received frequent applause as he alkided in glowing terms to 
the heroic virtues of the founder of the town of Duxbury. 



MUSIC BY THE BAND. 



CONSECRATORY PRAYER. 

BY KEV. R. H. KEALE, T). I> 



36 

HYMN.— OUR PILGRIM FATHERS. 

Am — Auld Lang Syne. 

Suug by the audience. 

Awake ! the slumbering Hero comes ! 

Arise! his spirit uears, 
To marshal back to "Pilgrim Homes" 

Our sires from other spheres. 
Tor "Auld Lang kSjuc" they come, 

For "Auld Lang Syne," 
And gather round those "Pilgrim Homes," 
Of "Auld Lang Syne." 

Hosannas to our Pilgrim Sires ! 

Bright memories round them twine ; 
Our prayers invoke celestial lyres 

Around their homes divine. 
For "Auld Lang Syne " we sing, 

For "Auld Lang Syne;" 

All honor to our Pilgrim Sires, 

For "Auld Lang Syne." 



• At the close of the exercises on the monument grounds, a 
procession was formed for the dinner tent, which was reached 
at about half-past two. Gen. Sargent led the guests, consisting 
of General Butler, General Schouler, Dr. Geo. B. Loring, Hon. 
Jacob H. Loud, Hon. Josiah Quincy, Ex-Mayor Shurtleff, Mayor 
Gaston, Hon, William T. Davis of Plymouth, members of the 
Executiv'e Council, and Hon. Oliver Warner, Secretary of State, 
Rev, Dr. Caswell, Hon. A. C, Barsiow, Rev, A. A. Miner, Rev, 
Edward E, Hale, Hon, Otis Cary, and others. 

After the comf^any were seated, they were called to order by 
General Sargent. Prayer was offered by Rev, Dr. Burgess. 
After about an hour spent in eating. General Sargent rapped to 
order, and introduced the speech-making by expressing the sat- 
isfaction which he enjoyed, after having been tortured by making 
a speech earlier in the day, to torture other gentlemen by calling 
upon them for speeches. In introducing the first toast, he made 



37 

very complimentary allusion to Gen. Butler, which was 
applautled. 

He announced the first regular toast as follows : " The Pres- 
ident of the United States, and the great Puritan Captain : 
trained soldiers both, and none the less determined to carry out 
the will of the people without any policy of their own." 

Responded to by General Butler. 

SPEECH OF GENERAL BUTLER. 

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen : — 

I grieve that the principal executive officer of the 
United States in this Commonwealth, who came w ith 
me here, and who would in the usual course be called 
upon to respond to the toast to the president of the 
United States, has been called back by imperative 
necessity, aiid left that which he, as a son of Ply- 
mouth, would be glad to perform, to be performed 
by me. 

As I ascended Captain's -Hill this morning, the 
thought occurred to me how little each generation 
knows of the effect of the events which occur in its 
own time. How little our pilgrim fathers thought of 
the great country which thereafterward their ideas 
and their descendants were to govern; when the little 
Mayflower entered this bay, how little thought those 
pilgrims of the great work they were doing ! So each 
and every great event; to the present — to the 
accompanying generation, the work is a small one, 
however great it may seem to those who come after. 
The great Captain, dead as we are told by your ora- 
tor and by tradition, has an unknown grave. We 



38 



can hardly look back and believe that the man tba 
we know, the great citizen soldier of iron wdl, of that 
Pilo-rim band, would be so little remembered by those 
that immediately surrounded and came after hnn 
that his resting-place should be even a matter of 
which tradition does not speak. He has but suffered 
the fate which all events of great magnitude, rising 
from small beginnings, suffer at the hands of their 

contemporaries. , ^ ^u 

After what has been said - nay, after what the 
men of Plymouth know of Myles Standish - it would 
be idle for me, coming from Essex County, to enter 
into anything like eulogy. He came down, indeed, 
once to Essex County, however, and it was the only 
time when he went out and came not back victor. 
But then he interfered with our fish! (A laugh.) 
There is a trait developed in the Puritan pilgnm 
character in the steady public employment of Myles 
Standish, which deserves a moment's thought. JNo 
more pious, nay, no more thoroughly religious peop e, 
ever came together. They came here, not as tradi- 
tion has it, not in the words of poetry, for the pur- 
pose of establishing freedom to worship God, but 
they came here for the purpose of establishing a com- 
monwealth in which they should have the right to 
worship God uninterfered with by any other class, or 
power, or potentate whatever; and upon that theory 
alone can we, their descendants, entirely justify every 
act of theirs. If they simply meant to establish free- 
dom to worship God, why did Roger Williams found 
Khode Island? Why did they cast out the sohismat- 



89 

ic? It was because they thoroughly believed they 
were right; that their religion was the true religion. 
They, believing that, had left the perfect freedom ot 
Holland, where they had every religious freedom 
excejDt the freedom of worshijDping undisturbed by 
schisms and dissensions, and came here to this coun- 
try. And when they made themselves a home in the 
wilderness, they determined that, being right, having 
made the great sacrifices for that right which they 
had done, no man should interfere with them. They 
carried out their own ideas to the logical conse- 
quence; better that men should suffer in this world, 
than to suffer an eternity in the next, as they believed 
all men who substantially differed from them would. 
They always stood by the logic of their own ideas. 
And it is the standing by that logic that to-day gives 
those ideas the government of the nation, and makes 
this nation the missionary nation of religious freedom 
and religious rights in the world. 

Again, our Pilgrim fathers were practical men. 
Deeply imbued with the religious spirit, believing 
they were controlled by a Divine Providence, they 
recognized the fact that that Providence worked 
through means, and human means, and used all 
human means best adapted to carry out the end. 
They remembered that Providence always blest the 
best battalion and the best soldiers. They believed 
in the man who had a will, and they believed that 
their prayers would be sufficient to enable him to 
carry out the will and power of God, although the 
man might not be the most proper instrument in a 
religious point of view. 



40 

One of the most marked characteristics of Myles 
Standish was, that, living among the Puritans, among 
rehgious men, not a hypocrite, not praying in public 
and sinning in private, and willing his whole life 
should be known and well understood, he carried 
with him, from the beginning to the end, the utter- 
most confidence and respect of the highest religious 
people. True, the good Elder Robinson thought 
that he might convert a few of the savages before 
he slew them, but he was quite content that the 
Indian might be slain provided that God's people 
might be preserved. Myles Standish had a will of 
his own, and he chose to exercise that will, and 
whenever it became necessary for him to carry for- 
ward the work he had in hand, to do the duty placed 
upon him, he was ready to sacrifice any enemy of his 
country which stood between him and the work 
which he was delegated by his country to perform. 

Again, Myles Standish had another high attribute 
of character, and that was loyalty to law — loyalty 
to authority. He never went beyond the right as 
it was given to him; he always bowed to the civil 
power, and in that he only showed his training as a 
soldier. This idea General Butler elaborated, and 
claimed that the same thing was shown in the late 
civil war, when our soldiers showed themselves obe- 
dient always to law and order, especially on their 
return home, when they were expected to make trou- 
ble. He paused to eulogize General Grant, in this 
connection, whom he termed the second gi-eat soldier 
of this country since Myles Standish. The latter 
had thirty-six years of executive power, and there 



41 

are those who hope General Grant may continue 
many more years to execute the will of the nation. 
(Applause.) Whatever else was said ahout General 
Grant, they could not claim that his policy had been 
against the will of the people. 

There was a resemblance between Myles Standish 
and General Grant in the way they have been treated 
by their countrymen. Some persons objected that a 
grateful people should make gifts to General Grant^ 
but did not our Pilgrim fathers give, tlie land on which 
they then stood to Mjdes Standish for his soldier's 
duty done? Thank Ood, in tliose days there ivere 
not any newspapers, and there was no slander raised 
on that account. (Laughter.) In this regard, General 
Butler thought the example of the Pilgrim fathers 
might well be followed. Here was sown the seed 
which enabled this country to go through the war 
for the suppression of the Rebellion. He (Butler) 
was one of those who believed that the Rebellion was 
necessary, and that it could not be averted; that all 
in the country were more or less guilty of the great 
cause — African slavery ; that the war was sent for 
the nation's regeneration. He remembered that 
Massachusetts and Rhode Island once owned slaves, 
and although subsequently rid of them, the ]S"orth 
was guilty of participation in the slavery of the 
South. He believed the war could never have ended 
until emancipation was proclaimed and the nation 
cleansed by fire. Any man, looking back over the 
recent events, could, in his opinion, see the guiding 
hand of Providence in them all. As Moses was not 

6 



42 

allowed to set foot on the promised land, so Presi- 
dent Lincoln was not allowed to enter into the full 
enjoyment of being the ruler of a reunited people, 
and the nation had to have the last of all phials of 
wrath in the shape of his successor. The triumph of 
the Puritan over the Cavalier was referred to, and 
General Butler said so strong a faith had he in the 
Puritan character that he was almost superstitious 
abont names, even, and if his grandfather's name had 
been Carlos instead of Zcphaniah, he did nt' believe 
he would have gone to the late war. It is this Puri- 
tan idea that is revolutionizing the whole country 
to-day; and when in the South and elsewhere shall 
be established schools, equal rights, the town house, 
the church where the word of God shall be preached 
to satisfy the dictates of the consciences of those who 
desire to hear it, the nation will be redeemed. He 
(General Butler) observed some persons smiling at his 
last remark, and repeated it, and declared that it was 
the Puritan idea not to impose their tenets on any- 
body else, and to allow nobody to impose their tenets 
npon them. In closing, General Butler alluded to the 
Christian commission following our armies in the 
late war, and claimed that it was a strictly Puritan 
institution, and ended with the following sentiment: 
" The Puritan idea, the motive power which is to 
revolutionize the world." 



After music by the band, the second regular toast was 
given "to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts," and both Gov. 
Claflin and Lieut -Gov. Tucker being absent, Hon. Oliver Warner, 



43 

Secretary of State, was called upon for a response, but had left 
the tent, and the sentiment was passed over. 

After the performance of the " Star Spangled Banner " by the 
band, the next regular toast was given as follows : " Practical 
education and the industrial arts; their seeds were sown in 
America by tlie Pilgrims who had to labor or starve." 

To respond to this, Dr. Geo. B. Loring, of Salem, was called 
upon. He was received with applause, and responded in an 
eloquent manner, wliich was loudly applauded by the auiience. 

SPEECH OF DR. LORING. 
Mr. President, and Ladies and Oentlemen : 

I owe you all an apology for making an attempt to 
speak at this time and on such an occasion. I sym- 
pathize most warmly with the Secretary of the Com- 
monwealth in his flight from this tent. He had been 
notified, only on his entrance to this place, that he 
was expected to respond to a sentiment, for which 
every man should desire careful and ample prepara- 
tion. It is not a mere impulse, a sudden inspiration, 
that will enable any one, even the most devoted and 
admiring citizen of Massachusetts, to set forth in 
suitable phrase the high qualities and attainments 
of this honored Commonwealth. Such a subject is 
worthy of, and is entitled to, the most careful thought 
and consideration. The apology of the Secretary is 
my apology. I was not aware that I was expected 
to say one word — strange as it may seem to some of 
you — on this occasion, and I came here entirely 
unprepared to reply taa sentiment which involves 
the largest knowledge of the industry of our State as 



1 



44 



developed in the days of our ancestors as well as our 
OAvn. Bat I could not fail to respond in some form; 
for I should be untrue to the blood which flows in 
my veins, did I fail to appear at this time on Captain's 
Hill, and to respond for the industry and enterprise 
of my ancestors, and for the Puritan Commonwealth 
which they founded. For I cannot forget, sir, that 
the first contest which took place in the Pilgrim col- 
ony, resulted in two lines of inheritance in this State 
in which the gentleman opposite (Mr. Standish) and 
myself have a personal interest, and which decided 
for us our lineage. While he claims descent from 
Myles Standish, I claim descent from John Alden, 
from him who vanquished the great captain on the fair 
and flowery field of love, and decided that the lovely 
Priscilla should be my ancestor and not his. My 
grandmother's name was Alathea Alden, — a Puritan 
name in every respect, and an Old Colony name; 
— if not, let any woman here bring forward one that 
is, and let any man find one in his ancestry if he can. 
And hence it is that I should be false to the blood 
which flows in my veins, did I fail to respond to your 
sentiment as best I may. And more than this. The 
occupation which Myles Standish adopted after he 
left his fields of conquest, has an especial claim upon 
me. I understand that he was a Massachusetts far- 
mer, an early representative of that industry which 
lay at the foundation of our ancient prosperity, and 
which is so important to us now. He was one of 
those, who, having, in their hour of need, availed 
themselves of the sandy store-houses of the Indians, 



45 

made an honest endeavor to cnltivate these hill-sides, 
as their part ofthe important service required by anew 
CO lony. The example they set was a good o]ie. The 
pe ople who have followed it have clothed themselves 
with honor and prosperity. And so as an American cit- 
izen,! believe in Myles Standish and his Pilgrim asso- 
ciates, who, having performed good service with their 
swords, tnrned their attention to their own acres, and 
fixed a system of agricnlture, and independent and 
intelligent landholdinghere, which is the pride and the 
peculiar prerogation of our people. Upon this founda- 
tion they built the fabric of their education, — that 
admirable co-mingling of polite bearing, moral cul- 
ture, and practical development, which has become the 
characteristic of their descendants. And what a 
true and steady cnlture was theirs! At its yerj 
foundation, they laid the Bible. We were told by 
the distinguished and eloquent orator of the day, 
that Myles Standish had three old Bibles and three 
new muskets. He was indeed well armed for the 
service of life. As he fought and as he toiled, on 
whatever field he applied his powers, he cultivated 
his religious nature, believing that without this man 
builded all in vain. The inspiration of that inspired 
volume went with himself and his sturdy companions 
everywhere, and sustained and warmed them on their 
path endowing fame. It was their daily companion. 
And I turn often with supreme delight to that page 
of an ancient Bible on which one of my ancestors has 
recorded that he diligently perused its chapter more 
than sixty times in thirty years. The impression 



4G 

made by such familiarity upon the minds of onr 
fathers is not yet lost upon us. They read but tew 
lighter books. They had but few. They read no 
newspapers. They had none. Perhaps the gentle- 
man who preceded me, will consider that in this they 
were fortunate. But, however this may be, it was on 
religious culture that they built the entire structure 
of their education, and advanced them to that devel- 
opment of every branch of knowledge and industry 
which has made this Commonwealth what it is. They 
were indeed scholars who were engaged in this 
early colonial work of education. They came from 
the classical schools of England, and brought the 
Bible and the classics with them. They knew well 
what study is, and what education is; and Bradford 
and Carver and Winslow and Brewster had been 
graduated at the great colleges of England, and they 
brought here their taste for letters which, thank 
God, has not yet died out in our beloved Common- 
wealth. They were scholars; and when they landed 
on these shores, their first service was to establish 
that kind of mental culture here, which has done more 
to give Massachusetts her power in the nation, than 
all her industrial arts, and all her achievements on 
the field or in council. They were scholars; and 
while their hearts warmed over their college, they 
forgot not moreover the demands of jjopular educa- 
tion, true ever to the thought that upon an educated 
people alone can the foundations of a free republic 
securely rest. And this is indeed the secret of their 
power. I honor these pilgrims of Plymouth for 



47 

their sturdy thought, their intellectual culture, and 
their liberal sentiments. They believed in and de- 
manded religious toleration. And they left it for the 
other line of my ancestors — who, I think, have done 
their part to make Essex County illustrious — to 
exercise another kind of religious fervor, and to send 
Roger Williams to Rhode Island, and the dissent- 
ing Browns back to England, because their religious 
views were intolerable, while they themselves held 
their hands open at all times for all faiths and all 
religions. It was religious fervor which gave Ply- 
mouth an existence, — it was religious tolerance 
which gave her an immortality. 

It is not surprising that the planting of Plymouth 
on such a foundation of education, religion, tolera- 
tion, and practical wisdom should outshine all similar 
events in history. It is not surprising that Plymouth 
and her institutions should have outlived all similar 
cotemporaneous events, and have produced an im- 
perishable influence in the history of the country. 
While Jamestown has decayed, and the places which 
knew its founders know their race no more; while 
the systems of the Dutch settlers of 'New York, 
against whom Myles Standish carried on his first 
conflict, and who, the historian Graham says, were 
unable to cope with the stern qualities developed by 
the trials at Plymouth, have faded away before the 
all-conquering institutions of the Pilgrim; while the 
empire of Lord Baltimore has vanished, and the 
social and civil system which John Locke planted in 
the Carolinas has disappeared, — the power of the 



48 

separatist, of the single-hearted and liberal-minded 
men of Plymouth, who founded here a common- 
wealth, upheld bj a great faith, and led by a great 
Captain, has gone on conquering and to conquer. 
And this was their practical work, in which they felt 
that in all their conflicts with evil, and their contests 
with ignorance, it was the duty of those who founded 
a State to develop alike its material prosperity, and 
to cultivate the mind and heart and Conscience of the 
people. And this is the Massachusetts of to-day. 

In granting, as you have, to the great Captain who 
lies buried beneath this sod, the practical power of 
establishing the sovereignty of the Commonwealth, 
and the practical intelligence of a cultivator of these 
acres, and a valuable servant of the colony, you have 
set forth what a true citizen was in the olden time, 
and what the best of the citizens of Massachusetts 
are in our day. I think we all believe in the law of 
life adopted by Myles Standish, — a separatist faith, 
a hard, industrious, prosperous, and productive life, 
and in so much of the military arm as will render it 
impossible for any man to conceive that he can defy 
the State with impunity. He was as good a citizen 
as he was captain; and I agree with the orator of the 
morning, therefore, that he has left behind him an 
example of cultivated military genius, and of useful- 
ness to the Commonwealth, worthy of all imitation; 
and I am sure he would have prided himself as much 
upon his citizenship, as upon the zeal with which he 
slew the hostile Indians roaming those primeval 
forests. I see him now, with the honors of his 



49 

military service won on the great battle-fields of 
Europe, a simjDle citizen in this colony, performing 
on this shore his daily toil, a warrior to-day, a farmer 
to-morrow, and ever ready to serve his people in any 
capacity, a pillar of the church and the State alike, 
an example for the brave and true in all time. I give 
you therefore, in closing: The first great civil 
chieftain of the country, — may the lesson which he 
taught guide our leaders in all time to come. 

Applause followed Dr. Loring's speech. 



The President then said, " The next toast is, ' Captain's Hill ; 
it speaks today in all its pride,' and I have the honor of intro- 
ducing to you Mr. Justin Winsor, a citizen of Duxbury formerly, 
and now at the head of the Boston Public Library." 

To this Mr. Winsor responded thus: — 

CAPTAIN'S HILL. 

A tumult of scorn swept wild through the skies, 
Till the echoes were crazed with the taunting replies, 
And the valleys looked up witli a mute surpi'ise. 

It swelled from the Jungfrau's icy steep, 
From Jura's wall of stupendous sweep, 
From Pilate mirrored in Geneva's deep ; — 

From where along the Grampian verge 
Ben Lomond saw the sea emerge ; 
Where Snowdon weltered in vapory surge. 

'T was heard amid our Northern folk. 
When Katahdin to Chocorua broke. 
And Greylock all his echoes woke. 

7 



50 

Where Lookout stands, a host beside, 
Bore oil' the tumult far and wide, 
Till remotest Shasta met the tide. 

And thus commingled scoff and mock 
Of forest peak and scarred rock 
In one reverberating shock. 

Down on a sandy shore there lay 

The guileless cause of this riotous fray, — 

Our Captain's Hill, — it speaks to-day ! 

Had the clouds vouchsafed to its summit bare 
A vapory cap, 't were then and there 
Its scorn had flung it high in air. 

Sturdy and true as its hero's soul, 
It heard the bantering echoes roll, 
And burst in its pride beyond control : — 

" There are solider ribs than mine, I know, 
And crowns compact of eternal snow, 
But where has story a surpassing glow? 

" The rugged scarps of the Switzer's land 
For monuments of Freedom stand. 
But this, around, is the Mayflower's strand ! 

" All time shall know how by yonder head. 
Whose sand-hills loom over the briny bed, 
The Bible was kissed and tlie compact said : — 

' Most fateful day which the world e'er saw ! 
When that scroll was signed with nameless awe 
Of the stern omnipotence of law ! 

" And then, Ben Lomond, with thy lore, 
I '11 match thee on this storied shore 
In tales to laugh at or weep o'er. 

" Here at my feet the waves outspread 
To where with more than an army's tread 
The Pilgrims' struggling band was led. 

" And they were weak, as I am small ; 
But death at its terriblest cannot appal, 
If the ranks close up as the weaker fall. 



51 

'* If Fate claimetT half the Insatiate Throne, 
Could spare enough for the world to own, 
In heart and soul and sinew and bone. 

" Mark yonder hero in his leathern hose ! 
There were times in Flanders, Spanish foes 
Skipped as his warring fury rose. 

" And yonder stripling, lithe and tall! 
Who does not know ? aye, each and all 
Priscilla's 'Prithee,' to her willing thrall. 

" My captain, you'll believe me, friends. 
As he drummed his hilt with his flnger ends, 
Outflanked for once, then vowed amends. 

" Proud Lookout, too, what fame thou know'st, 
"When Hooker scaled with cloudy host, — 
I glory in your martial boast. 

" But didn't my army, six souls strong, 
With doughty Myles, put down the wrong, 
Maintain the right, and keep it long? 

" And thou, hoar Shasta of the west ! 
Thou scann'st afar the miners' quest ; 
Know'st not this land is with fruitage blest? 

" We 've shades as classic as the Cam's ; 
We 've brawn to buffet life's hard jams ; 
And what is more — we 've Duxbury clams. 

" And over the Thump Caps the pinksteru knows 
The cod will bite if my gulley shows 
Straight in the range of the Gurnet's Nose. 

" And now, ye summits lost in cloud ! 
I'm little, monarchs, but I'm proud; 
To God alone, my Captain bowed." 

And so it spoke, as it speaks to-day. 
And felt the better for having its sa}^ 
And so may we all feel, now and for aye. 



52 

The next rcfjular toast was : — 

"Rose Standish, the tvpe of womanly sacrifice: her mantle 
has fallen on American women." 

To this, Rev. E, E. Hale responded as follows : — 

EESPONSE OF UEV. E. E. HALE. 
It is certainly quite time, Mr. President, and ladies 
and gentlemen,- that something should be said about 
Rose Standish and the women who came with her. 
Rose Standish is a little forgotten when we talk of 
Priscilla Mullens, or whatever her name may be. 
(Laughter.) The truth is, the women who came out 
in the Mayflower solved the problem of emigration. 
I give that fact to the lady editors, who do not seem 
to me to make as much use of it as I think they would 
be Avise to do. The effort to settle ]^orth America 
to the northward of the Gulf of Mexico had been 
made again and again, and yet again and again, and 
yet again and again, for a century, and had failed. 
The Huguenots had made it and had failed; the 
Spaniards had made it and had failed; the French 
had made it in Canada, they had made it again in 
Carolina, and they had failed; Gosnold had made 
it and had failed; the runagates that came out with 
Popham had made it and had failed; the people who 
settled at Jamestown had made it and, as we think, 
they had failed. As my distinguished friend in front 
of me said in my hearing, they failed till the day 
came when the cavalier found out that the Puritan 
was his master; until that great moment, even James- 
town was a failure. The f\iilure was steady, sir, from 
1492 till 1620; the attempt to colonize the I^orth 



53 

American continent, north of Florida, was a failure ; 
and why? It was a failure because always, — when 
Halph Lane came over, when the Huguenots came 
over, when John Smith came over, when Grosnold 
came over, the men came over alone. With the first 
winter they were inevitably disappointed, and in the 
next spring they returned to England. Kalph Lane 
returned to England and his men ; Popham and his 
men returned to England. Gosnold returned to 
England with his men the very year they came. 
And why did they return to England? They re- 
turned to England because they had not brought their 
homes with them; because their Kose Standishes 
stayed at home, while our Kose Standish came here, 
though she came here to die. It was the women of 
Plymouth who made the colony of Plymouth the first 
permanent colony. Rose Standish and the lovely 
women who came with her (we know they were 
lovely, because we know their descendants) stand for 
the success of Protestant colonization. Protestant 
colonization depends upon the transfer of homes. It 
is in the transfer of homes that emigration and col- 
onization have succeeded in America. It is only in 
the transfer of homes that it succeeds, and when my 
excellent friends who are in charge of the woman's 
rights movement learn that deeper than constitutions, 
stronger than churches, more powerful than schools 
in civilization are the homes of a nation, they will 
have learned what it seems to me they do not know 
to-day (applause), and they will have learned the 
greatest secret of the church government and of the 
state government of the world. (Applause.) 



54 

Myles Staiidish stands for this, sir; he stands for 
what is not always understood, the cathoHcity, the 
toleration, the generosity of this company of Pil- 
grims. We hear a great deal about their bigotry. 
They were men of strong will; they were men who 
meant to have the right to go forward, they were men, 
as has been rightly said, who believed in God, and 
meant to keep their powder dry. yevy certainly, 
they meant to have the world go forward in a par- 
ticular way, and to that way they consecrated their 
lives. It is convenient, thei'efore, for those persons 
upon whose toes they trod to say they were a narrow, 
bigoted, self-satisfied set of men. The truth is, this 
little body of Pilgrims, who settled here in the region 
around this hill, embraced much more than the church 
which had been formed in England, was then trans- 
ferred to Leyden, and then removed here. It em- 
braced such come-outers as Mj'les Standish. It took 
in men that did not belong to that church. It took 
them in with the toleration, with the generosity, with 
the catholicity which belonged to the character and 
ought to belong to the church of the new-born peo- 
ple. It is on this catholicity, this generosity to all 
comers, that the American republic was founded; 
it is on the same generosity that its prosperity de- 
pends to-day. And when you hear one schemer or 
another talk of leaving out in the cold the men of this 
lineage or that, of this creed or that, when you hear 
them talk of America's standing by itself, saying to 
the rest of the world, " hands oflp," or " stand back," 
you hear people talk who do not know anything of 



55 

the principles of Plymouth Kock, or of the founda- 
tion that here was laid. 

Myles Standish, himself not a member of their 
church company, represents that principle of tolera- 
tion in American history. 

It is to this tolerance, indeed, exhibited among 
their successors, that I owe the pleasure of being* 
present to-day. I am in the midst, say, in round 
numbers, of 562 descendants of the Pilgrims, myself 
being the only one among them in whose veins there 
runs not a drop of Pilgrim blood. (Laughter.) In 
the last Pilgrim celebration that I attended, on the 
225th anniversary of the landing at Plymouth Rock, 
I chanced to be in the society of a venerable matron 
who had well informed herself in the history of this 
matter, and I ventured to say that my only plea for 
Pilgrim ancestry was based on my hope that it would 
prove that my venerated ancestor, Madam Pepper, 
belonged to a Pilgrim family. It is to the blood of 
that lady that I owe the coolness of disposition which 
has served me well in trying exigencies. I said I 
knew she was not in the Mayflower, but I hoped it 
might yet prove she was in the Fortune, or in the Ann. 
But I found jesting on this subject dangerous. With 
a look of perfect iciness she asserted that could 
not be; that no Pepper ever came over in the Ann, 
the Fortune, or the Mayflower It is dangerous jok- 
ing on such subjects here, sir. They all have their 
genealogy, — not in the first pages of their Bibles ; 
no, — they have it in their heads. They all of them 
know from whom they descended; and all the per- 



5(j 

sons around here would say as my friend said, that 
they knew there was no person named Pej^per in either 
the Ann, the Fortune, or the Mayflower. Since then, 
I know that I have no right to stand on Pilgrim Kock 
or Captain's Hill, except on this broad catholicity of 
the Pilgrim forefathers. Why, you are not in the 
same boat with me, Mr. President. Your venerated 
and distinguished relative has made immortal for us 
the faces of the Pilgrims upon the canvas in the hall 
yonder. He has shown us the pensive beauty of 
Rose Standish. He has shown us the manliness of 
her husband. He has shown us Bradford and the 
rest of them, in their manner, as they were, and I am 
sure there is not one of us here but who, looking 
back upon them in fancy, is guided by the genius of 
a Sargent in his reproduction of the scene. What is 
more, there is not one of our friends here but, as I 
have been speaking, has rehearsed the number of 
these ladies from whom they themselves descended. 
We are seven generations from those people. Each 
of us has two parents, four grandparents, and eight 
great-grandparents; and by an easy calculation you 
will see that in the seven generations past, one may 
have one hundred and twenty-eight great, great, 
great, etc., grandfathers and grandmothers in the 
Mayflower, only that, unfortunately, there were but 
one hundred and one persons there. . My charming 
friend at my side is descended from them all, — she 
unites all their graces and virtues. My distinguished 
friend opposite, the treasurer of the Commonwealth 
as long as the Commonwealth could command his 



57 

services, is descended from thirty-eight; the lady on 
yonr left from sixty-seven; your friend in line with 
her, from twenty-three. I am, alas, descended from 
not one! Yet, sir, I have no doubt that my ances- 
tors did their best. (Laughter.) I am not well ac- 
quainted with them. They were not a class of 
people who left their record behind them. They 
were, I do not doubt, brave men, pure women; but 
they were not received on board the Mayflower. 
Since I have sat here, I have pictured to myself their 
manly procession, their womanly beauty, as they 
waited on the pier at Plymouth, in southwestern 
England, for the day when the Mayflower should be 
sighted at the signal-station, and when she should 
come up the bay. She leaves Delft-haven ; she passes 
the dangers of the English Channel and comes to 
Old Plymouth, the farthest port in southwestern 
England. " Methinks I see her now, the Mayflower 
of a forlorn hope, freighted with the prospects of a 
distant State, and bound across the unknown sea." 
She comes up Plymouth Bay; one hundred and 
twenty-eight of my ancestors, sir, — sixty-four men 
and sixty-four women, — are waiting upon the pier, 
with their passage-tickets in their hands, requesting 
to be received on board; and at the gangway, with 
military precision, there stands the sentinel. It is 
Myles Standish, — afterwards to be the hero of the 
little company. He looks upon their faces; he sees 
what may come from them to the old colony in its 
time ; but he looks back upon the hampered vessel, 
and to the oldest of my ancestors of that day, sir, he 

8 



58 

says : " You are a handsome man, but you can't come 
in." (Laughter and applause.) It is only to that 
great misfortune of that hour, sir, that I owe the 
disgraceful position which 1 hold before you now. 
(Renewed laughter.) I am not acquainted with the 
facts, I say; I am obliged to draw upon my imagi- 
nation; and my political friends know that when you 
have no facts in the blue-books, your imagination is 
an excellent substitute. I am obliged to draw on 
my imagination for my facts; but I believe in that 
sad hour, when they saw the Mayflower leave the 
shores of Plymouth in England to come across the 
waters here and establish the 'New Plymouth, those 
men and women devoted themselves to American 
colonization; and so soon as they heard that Win- 
throp, Dudley, and the rest, were on the way, those 
sixty-four gallant men and sixty-four gallant women, 
possessed with the impression of the beauty of Rose 
Standish upon the deck, and the manliness of Myles 
Standish as he stood beside her, consecrated them- 
selves to the determination that they would follow 
the founders of the little State. They remained only 
ten years in England, and devoted those years to 
doing what they could to establish the lesser colony 
of the Bay. 



59 

THE PILGRIM MOTHERS. 

BY S F. STREETEK. 

The Pilgrim Mothers ! whei-e are they ? 
Their frames are dust, their souls iu heaven; 

Yet shall their memory pass away, 
Nor praise to their good deeds be given ? 

" Teach infant lips to sing their name, 
(Ten thousand ready tongues reply;) 

And give their noble acts to fame ; 
Tho' now in silent dust they lie ! " 

They severed fond affection's chain, 
And looked and listened o'er and o'er, 

On forms they might not see again, 
To voices they might hear no more ; 

Then, tore their bleeding hearts away. 
From peaceful homes beyond the sea; 

Where they had passed their childliood's day, 
Yet where the spirit was not free. 

No Home for them — that magic word. 
Which, fraught with love, and joy, and rest, 

Whenever and wherever heard, 
Unseals pure fountains in the breast ; 

No home for them — for far away 
The dwellings of their kindred stood ; 

Beyond the swellings ocean's play, 
Far from their forest solitude. 

They sought a strange and wintry shore, 
Yet love burned brightly in their breast ; 

They shrank not when the mourners bore 
The weary spirits to their rest ; 

And oft, when from a savage tongue, 
Pealed wildly forth the battle cry. 

They to their trusting children clung, 
A nd calmly gave themselves to die. 

man, boast not of thy lion-heart ! 
Tell not of proud, heroic deed ! 

Have we not seen thy vaunted art 
Fail in the deepest hour of need? 



GO 

But, woman's courage ! 't is more deep, 
More strong than heart of man can feel — 

To save her little ones that sleep, 
She bares her bosom to the steel. 

Daughters of them who, long ago. 
Dared the darlc storm, and angry sea, 

And walked the desert way of woe. 
And pain, and trouble, to be free! 

Oh, be like them ! like them endure ! 
And bow beneath affliction's rod ; 

Like them be humble, mild and pure — 
In joy and sorrow look to God. 
Baltimore, 1843. 

The next toast was, " The first and the last Surveyors of the 
Cape — The last has enabled us to pay our tribute to-day to the 
first." 

It was responded to by Hon. Josiah Quincy, who in a 
pleasant and facetious address deprecated the growing custom 
of speech-making, urging as his reason for this action that they 
could not find any record of the Pilgrims' public speaking. 

The next sentiment was : — 

"Roger Williams, the companion of the pilsfrims, the 
apostle of soul-liberty." 

This was responded to as follows by the Rev. Dr. Caswell, 
president of Brown University : 

As a descendant of the pilgrims, I am here to-day 
to honor those noble pioneers of Christianity and civ- 
ilization on these shores. But, Mr. President, I came 
to hear, and not at all to speak. I came to look in 
reverence upon the spot, which is this day consecrated 
to the memory of " Captain Myles Standish," the able 
and dauntless military leader of that little band of 
exiles. 



61 

But why do we honor the Pilgrims? For theii* 
heroic virtues, their unflinching devotion to truth and 
duty, their never-faiUng and sublime trust in God. 
The world has seen but few examples of Christian 
faith and endurance so illustrious as theirs. Amid 
sickness and sufferings and dangers that might well 
appal ordinary men and women, and drive them to 
despair, they remained steadfast and unmoved in their 
confidence, — " Strong in the Lord, and in the power 
of his might." This, it seems to me, was their great 
distinction from other men and other women. In this 
they hold a proud preeminence. But what can be 
said in praise of them that has not been said a hun- 
dred times already? Suffice it to say, that their prin- 
ciples and their example formed the basis of 'New- 
England character. They sowed the precious seed, 
which, in all parts of the land, has borne fruits an 
hundred- fold to the honor of piety, and justice, and 
patriotism. It is hardly too much to say that their 
principles, propagated in their descendants and 
through them, permeating and moulding public opin- 
ion, have, at length, after more than a century of con- 
flict, made us a nation of freemen, in which there 
breathes not a single slave. 

But, Mr. President, the sentiment which you have 
given me calls upon me to speak of Roger Williams. 
"We honor his memory in Rhode Island. And I am 
glad to know that the time is long past since his 
name was held in dishonor in Massachusetts. With 
the Plymouth brethren, Williams always maintained the 
most friendly relations. To some of the leading men 



C2 

in the Massachusetts Bay, he was warmly attached. 
In his bitter exile he takes evident pleasure in speak- 
ing of Governor Winthrop as his " loving friend." 

Roger Williams was a statesman as well as a Chris- 
tian. He saw, probably, more clearly than any man 
of his times, — and what comparatively few men saw 
at all, — the necessity of an entire and absolute sep- 
aration between church and state. He maintained 
that in all matters of religious concernment, the con- 
science must be free, — there must be, what he called, 
" soul-liberty." Every man must be left free to wor- 
ship God according to the dictates of his own con- 
science. The civil magistrate must exercise no con- 
trol and impose no restraint. This was the distinc- 
tive feature of his polity with regard to church and 
state. 'J''his, also, was perhaps the chief heresy which 
made him obnoxious to the rulers of the Massachusetts 
Bay, and led to his banishment. That event of 
unhappy memory occurred nearly two hundred and 
fifty years ago. The ideas of civil and religious lib- 
erty, thank God, have made great progress since that 
time. "Who now, in this broad land, stands up to con- 
test with Roger Williams that great principle of relig- 
ious liberty, which he was the first to promulgate? 
Among Protestants, we may answer, not one. We 
here, on this consecrated ground, honor his memory. 
The nation honors it. The friends of religious liberty 
in all lands honor it. By common consent, the name 
of Roger Williams stands to-day among the illustri- 
ous names of history. 

As a matter of tardy justice to the memory of her 



63 

distinguished founder, the State of Rhode Island has 
recently placed an imposing marble statue of him in 
the national capitol. It is purely ideal, as no authen- 
tic portrait of him is known to exist. But it finely 
symbolizes the character of the man, — the humility 
and benevolence of the Christian, the self-reliance and 
firmness of the pioneer, the dignity and wisdom of 
the statesman. 

As yet, no commemorative monument honors him 
in the city which he founded. We hope the reproach 
of ingratitude will not long rest upon those who have 
so largely entered into his labors and who aro so 
justly proud of their inheritance. It is to be hoped 
that your good example of to-day may act as a salu- 
tary incentive to us. 

The next sentiment was : " The Seeds of Civil and Relig- 
ious Liberty, — planted on our sterile soil by our Pilgrim Fathers, 
they have brought forth a harvest in which all Christian sects 
find an inheritance." Rev. Dr. A. A. Miner made an eloquent 
response. 

SPEECH OF DR. MINER. 

Mr. President, and Ladies and Oentlemen : 

It is but little I have to say, on so short a notice; 
and at this late hour, brief is the time it would be 
proper for me to employ. It is not without misgiv- 
ings I rise at all to respond to the sentiment you have 
read, as my faith has considerably overflowed the 
Puritan boundaries. This misgiving was not a little 



64 

increased by a jocose remark of the gentleman (Mr. 
Quincy) who has just addressed yon, and who may 
be supi^osed to be authority in such matters. Kiding 
up Captain's Hill this morning, he said to me and my 
venerable friend Dr. l!^eale, who sits before me, that 
he did not see what business either of us had here. 
But as Dr. ISTeale has managed somehow to come in, 
and as his shoulders are broader than mine, I have 
followed in his wake. His " Communion," though 
" close," embraces me, and mine embraces everybody. 
It may be that this is the door through which the gen- 
tleman himself (Mr. Quincy) has entered. 

I have, however, one or two things to say for my- 
self. In the first place, I am a descendant of Captain 
Myles Standish. It is true, I am compelled to rest 
this claim on somewhat peculiar grounds. George 
Macdonald, one of the most popular authors, perhaps, 
at present, among the literary men of Scotland, in one 
of the most exquisite little poems known to our lan- 
guage, gives the lineage of an infant in the following 
unique and succinct style: — 

" Where did you come from, baby dear? 
Out of the everywhere, into here " 

!N^ow, as I have the authority of uncorrupted tradi- 
dion, strengthened by a proximate memory, that I 
started life an infant, I too may claim to have come 
from " out of the everywhere into here," and so to 
have descended in a right line from Myles Standish. 

In the second place, though a heretic, judged from 
the Puritan stand-point, I am a legitimate successor 



65 

of the Puritans, as regards their claims of personal 
right to worship God and interpret his _ word accord- 
ing to the dictates of their own consciences. It is 
true, " they builded better than they knew." What 
they claimed for themselves, but had not, learned to 
concede to others, has come to be embodied in institu- 
tions. Their private prerogative has come to be rec- 
ognized as a public principle, and men now seek to 
draw near to God in the light of the best they know of 
him. Thus do the principles of righteousness come 
to be embodied in the understanding and the heart. 
If the business of the church were to ticket us for 
the kingdom of heaven as we were ticketed for Dux- 
bury this morning, the Roman Catholic church could 
do the work quite as well, perhaps, as any other. 
But if the business of the church is to fortify the 
human soul with the principles of justice, integrity, 
humility, and trustful patience, and to temper and 
kindle it by the sovereign power of divine love ; and 
if this bringing of a soul into communion with God 
and making it a law unto itself, is saving it, then 
the church that best does this, that brings God near- 
est, that most magnifies his love, that knits the 
human soul most strongly to him and most controls 
it by that love which is the " fulfilling of the law," 
is the best. Thus judged, the Romish church holds 
a low place; and Romnnism, though under Protest- 
ant names, is little better. Now, Puritanism, for 
itself, stands on the right of individual judgment ; 
and we, for ourselves, Puritanism consenting or 
resisting, stand on the same right, — the right to be 

9 



66 

a heretic, — the right to show that man's heresy is 
God's orthodoxy. This private right has become 
pubhc law, and the harvest from Puritan seed has 
become the common inheritance of the church. 

One thing furtlier. We are professedly honoring 
the Puritans and their church fidelity. Honor higher 
than can be embodied in words, would be bestowed 
by imitating what was noblest in their church life, — 
fidelity to the best they knew. Churches may put 
on all the external appearances of thrift and religious 
zeal, and at the same time remain utterly worldly, 
fashionable, and self-seeking. I yield to no man in 
my respect for a truly Christian church. But those 
churches which take a bottle in one hand and a ballot 
in the other, and deposit the latter to perpetuate the 
dominion of the former, present very doubtful claims 
to any man's respect. For myself, I prefer to be 
voted out of such a church to being voted into it; 
and if I must go to heaven with its ticket of indorse- 
ment pinned to my garments, I would ask some 
heretic to cover it with a patch of simple unhypocrit- 
ical worldliness, that divine grace might not be put 
to any unnecessary strain in receiving me. Not 
until we can rise, under our measure of light, to the 
grand fidelity of the Puritans under theirs, shall we 
truly honor them; and not until we vote as we think, 
and live and act as we vote, will God be honored 
and man be blest. 



67 

The next regular toast was then announced as follows: "The 
Pilgrim Colonies, — their records have the simple poetry of 
mythology and the philosophic truth of history." 

To this toast Dr. ShurtlefF responded. His remarks were 
full of beauty and historic interest. 

REMARKS OF DR. SHURTLEFF. 

Mr. President: — 

Coming here at this time out of respect to the 
Pilgrim forefathers of Duxbury and their worthy- 
descendants, it would certainly be much more agree- 
able to me to be a silent listener to the pleasant 
words of others, than to consume any of the time of 
this interesting occasion by being a speaker. But 
having a good share of Pilgrim blood coursing 
through my veins, perhaps as much as any one pres- 
ent, it would seem wrong, after receiving your kind 
invitation, to let my aversion to public speaking pre- 
vent my responding to what you have just proposed. 

What you, sir, have just now said about the records 
of the Pilgrim colonies is perfectly correct. They 
possess all that you have attributed to them, and 
even more: But it is of very little consequence on 
this occasion what the words of a toast are, for the 
sentiments that pervade all of us to-day cannot be 
otherwise than concerning the Pilgrim forefathers of 
New England. We who esteem ourselves happy in 
being descended from these Avorthies, always rejoice 
in an oi:)portunity to pay deserved tribute to their 
memories by rehearsing their virtues and estimable 



68 

characteristics. We consider it our boiinden duty to 
communicate to our children and successors those 
things worthy of remembrance which we have learned 
from our fathers. !N^ow, sir, with what you and 
others gathered together around this hospitable board 
have so well said, nothing of this has been neglected ; 
nor have the mighty deeds of valor that were per- 
formed of old by our venerated ancestors been for- 
gotten. How could we on an occasion with such 
interesting purposes as this in view, forget these 
worthy people? "We are now on their own ground, 
and in sight of the scenes of their early endeavors. 
The places which they once trod, and where they 
d-^elt and labored, are before and around us. Every 
object that meets our view reminds us of what has 
transpired in the past, and of the historic characters 
who have achieved so much for their posterity. 

The special object of this present gathering on 
Captain's Hill — the consecration of the ground on 
which we hope soon to see reared an enduring mon- 
ument to the Pilgrims' captain — cainiot but awaken 
within us many memories of the past which must 
necessarily rencAV associations of the most pleasant 
character, and carry us back to the ancient days 
when the Pilgrim worthies were here in the flesh, as 
they undoubtedly now are in the spirit. In the selec- 
tion of a site for the memorial, you have been singu- 
larly fortunate. It is most prominently situated, and 
is discernible from all the Pilgrim surroundings, and 
moreover, was early set apart for the use of the brave 
captain by his grateful contemporaries. Standing on 



69 

it, as we now do, we recognize the appropriateness 
of the place. From its lofty eminence, hallowed 
by the remembrance of the valiant Captain and vene- 
rated Elder, scenes of the greatest interest open to 
our view. At our feet Ave can distinctly trace the 
vestiges of these fathers and of their humble abodes. 
We can drink to-day from their never-failing springs 
of living water, and partake of jDroducts raised in 
their own fertile fields. At no great distance from 
the shores that nearly surround this delightful penin- 
sula, we can distinguish the very place where, just 
within view of the promised land, rode the renowned 
May Flower and its little colony of self-exiled pil- 
grims. Very near can be seen the delightful island 
which first gave rest and safety and comfort to these 
weary people, and where, under the shelter of the 
hospitable rock that even now marks the sacred spot, 
they passed their first Christian Sabbath in ^ew 
England. From this, your chosen site, can be seen 
all the noted landmarks of the Pilgrim history. 

"While we survey these ancient scenes and former 
abodes of the Pilgrim fathers, we should consider our- 
selves exceedingly fortunate and happy that so much 
knowledge of what concerned them has been pre- 
served on written and printed pages, and that rem- 
iniscences have also been transmitted to us by truthful 
tradition, most sacredly passed down from generation 
to jreneration of the descendants of the first comers. 
But when I say "truthful traditions," Mr. President, 
I do not mean to class with them any foolish and 
vague impossibilities, that neither heighten, in our 



70 

estimation, those whose memory we should revere, 
nor give us ideas of what did not take place. His- 
tory and Ideality can keep closely together, and 
strengthen and beautify each other; but Truth should 
be their handmaid and ever-present companion. The 
positive historian must, and always will, doubt tradi- 
tionary lore, because, in it error frequently supplants 
and eradicates truth, diverts reality from its direct 
course, and very sadly perverts history. 

However truthful record has been respecting the 
history of our pilgrim ancestry, tradition has been 
greatly at fault. Truth and propriety have been set 
aside, and error and frivolity have prevailed. But, 
fortunately, the written and printed records speak 
louder and stronger than wide-mouthed tradition, and 
all is safe. In the laudable contention of claiming for 
ancestors the honor of being the first to place foot 
upon the Plymouth rock, tradition has most signally 
failed. Both sexes have set up pretensions to this 
distinction, and some of the most excellent of the May 
Flower passengers have to be set aside because, hav- 
ing other engagements aboard ship, they did not hap- 
pen to be of the first boatrload that reached the shore 
at the water-side of their new-found haven of rest in 
"New Plymouth. 

The first three marriages in the colony were of 
persons all of whom were passengers of the May- 
flower: Edward Winslow married widow Susanna 
"White; John Rowland married Elizabeth Tilley, and 
John Alden married Priscilla Mullens. These mar- 
riages took place when all the colonists dwelt on the 



71 

two sides of Leyden Street, between Burying Hill and 
the water side in Plymouth, and sometime before 
Edward Winslow brought over the three heifers and 
one bull, — the first neat cattle in the colony, — in the 
Ann, in March, 1624. Therefore, the tradition that 
Howland married a daughter of Governor Carver is 
not true ; nor would Alden have required any animal 
for his newly-married wife to ride a few rods, especi- 
ally when there were none in the colony larger than a 
good-sized dog, or goat, or respectable pig. 

The redoubtable actions of the brave Standish, the 
excellencies of Alden, South worth, Brewster, Collier, 
and innumerable other worthies, we can all believe, 
because they are matters of record, and we notice 
them daily exemplified by their posterity. Let us 
continue to emulate these examples of excellence and 
worth; and as the Standish memorial shall rise, stone 
upon stone, let our determination be strengthened to 
be guided by instructions which they left for our 
good. 

Far away, sir, in the old borough of Boston, in 
Lincolnshire, which furnished so many good colonists 
for our Boston, there stands a noble old church-edi- 
fice known as St. Botolph's, with an extraordinai-ily 
tall tower. There formerly worshipped many saintly 
persons whose lives terminated in ^ew England. 
It is said of the estimable John Cotton, of Boston, 
that while he was vicar of St. Botolph's, he kept dur- 
ing dark nights a light upon that tower to guide the 
wayfarers over the bogs and moors and fens of Lin- 
colnshire; and it is likewise said thai when Cotton 



72 

came to 'New England the light of St. Botolph's went 
out. Be this as it may, certainly a new light was 
transferred to America which served here as a most 
brilliant luminary. May we not hope that our memo- 
rial may tower up on high like old St. Botolph's, and 
serve not only as a safe guide to the weary mariner 
and wayfarer, but also be a landmark, from whose 
lofty top shall be pointed out the foot-paths of our 
fathers, and, recalling the remembrance of the past, 
excite to the best endeavors the sons and daughters 
of the Pilgrim stock. 

The exercises were concluded by " Auld Lang Syne " by the 
band. 



73 



Owing to the extreme uncertainty of the railroad being finished 
in season to transport the guests, the committee, with much 
regret, were obliged to withhold many invitations till the last 
moment, which rendered it impossible for some of the distin- 
guished invited guests to be present. Many letters of sympathy 
with the cause were received, but with regrets that intervening 
engagements would prevent their presence on the occasion. Lord 
Parker was present on the grounds during the day, remaining 
till the exercises were over, and showing much interest, but 
carefully avoided being called out. Lord Walter Campbell sent 
his regrets, as did many distinguished citizens who would, if 
possible, have been present. Extracts from the following letters 
show the great interest in the Memorial to Standish, and the 
press of the country have universally and strongly favored this 
tribute to the memory of the old hero. The generals and other 
officers of the army, as well as the privates of the G-rand Army 
of the Republic, all approve of erecting a monument to the 
memory of the first commissioned officer of the United States, 
and some of the best soldiers, as well as many distinguished 
civilians, are already members of the Association. The expenses 
of the festival were borne by the citizens of Duxbury, who, 
are deserving of much credit for their perseverance and energy 
in trying to make so large an audience comfortable under such 
disadvantageous circumstances, and without any expense to the 
Memorial Association. 

Five acres of land for the monument has been donated by 
the owner of the Standish farm, at the request of the Standish 
heirs, and ten acres more of adjoining land has been placed by 
him in the hands of the treasurer of the Association, to be by 
them assessed and sold for betterments, if, in the opinion of the 
directors, the erection of the monument shall in any manner 

10 



74: 

benefit pecuniarily the balance of the Standish farm, — if not, 
the same is to be re-deeded to hitn. 

To George Bradford, Thomas Chandler, and Charles H. 
Chandler, Selectmen, and other town officers and citizens of Dux- 
bury, the Association is much obligated for contributions and 
assistance, in entertaining the guests, as well as for their uni- 
versally expressed sympathy for the memory of Myles Standish. 



XjE1TTE:RS 



From the President of the United States. 
" I am heartily with your Association, in sympathy with any 
moYcment to honor one who was as prominent in the earl}' history 
of our country as Myles Standish ; but my engagements are such 
that I regret I am unable to promise to be present at the dedica- 
tion in August. 

" With many thanks for your kindness in sending me the invita- 
tion, I am respectfully yours, 

U. S. Grant." 

General Sherman writes : " Of course the proposit(m to erect 
a monument in sight of Massachusetts Bay, to that stanch old 
soldier, Miles Standish, meiets m}' hearty approbation, and I should 
be most happy to assist. 

"But I have been away so much that I ought to stay at home," 
etc. 

From General Sheridan. 

" I do not know that my engagements will permit of my being 
present at the time mentioned, but will do so if I can. 

*■' In any event, allow me to assure you of my admiration and re- 
spect for the services and sturdy character of the man, and my 
heartj' approval of the oliject of your A&sociation." 

P. H. Sheridan. 



75 

"1 beg to say that I heartily approve of your intention to erect 
a Memorial to Captain Standish, and I think there is no more 
fitting spot than the one you have chosen for that purpose. 

" I shall be glad to be with you if possible. Thanking you for 
your courteous invitation, 

" I remain, yours very truly, 

" A. E. Bdrnside." 
From General Hooker. 
'' I regret to state that my engagements for the month of August 
are such, as to render it impossible for me to join you on that 
memorable occasion. It is unnecessary for me to say that I deeply 
sympathize with the object of your meeting. I have been an ad- 
mirer of the character of IMyles Standish from my boyhood up, and 
would like to be identified with any body of gentlemen engaged in 
commemorating his great virtues. To me, his civil and military 
character towers far above his contemporaries, and they, if I mis- 
take not (when history shall be truthfully written), will be made 
to appear to be the most remarkable body of men that ever lived. 
Viewed from our present standpoint, in my opinion, they are now 
entitled to that judgment. It will be a graceful act on the part of 
our friends, to erect a monument to his memory ; but it must not 
be expected to add to his fame or immortalitj'. Industrj-, valor, 
and integrity were regarded as the cardinal virtues of our foi-e- 
fathers, and I hope they will never be held in less estimation by 
their descendants. One of our gifted poets has happily named 
' Plymouth Pock ' as the corner-stone of the nation. The super- 
struction promises to be worthy of the foundation. With great 
respect, I have the honor to-be your friend and serA^ant, 

"J. Hooker, llajor-General." 
" Unexpected engagements will deprive me of the pleasure of 
accepting your kind invitation for the day. Frequent recurrence 
to the forming period of national character distinguishes a wise 
and patriotic people. The incident at Cape Anne in 1625, 'the 
eager and peremptory demand ' of Standish, combined with the 
'prudence and moderation' of Governor Conant, exhibit the 
characteristics, the combination of energy and wisdom, of decision 
and flrnmess, which again made the law a century and a half later 
at Bunker Hill. 



76 

"The spirit of self-assertion and inclepend<ince in 1625, bred that 
which paralyzed the English Council in 1671, and British arms in 
1775; which repeated 'the 19th of April' in 1861, and thwarted 
British greed in alliance with Southern Slavers'. The historical 
connection is complete. 

" Very respectfully, yours, 

"J. Wing ATE Thornton." 

From Ex-Governor Sprague, of Bhode Island. 
" I fear my other engagements will deprive me of the pleasure of 
mingling with those who meet to honor the sterling character of 
our ancestor, and call up their deeds for the imitation of the actors 
of this hour. Express to the Association my sense of the honor 
done me by their invitation. Associations of men of the present 
time, who honor men of the past for acts which have redounded to 
the elevation of those who live subsequently, have the same, or 
some of the same elements of character themselves, that they honor. 
\Ve can tell by the public acts of the man, or of communities, 
whether among them, or in the nation, the word of progress is For- 
ward! whether there is a backusard tread. Men cannot stand still; 
the highest perfection is, man progressing ; the lowest scale of 
being is, man decaying. 

" Very respectfully, yours, 

"W. Sprague." 

" As a descendant of those who landed on the Plymouth Rock, 
I feel a special interest in whatever relates to the brave soldier. 
Captain Myles Standish, by whose sword the little colony was in 
its infancy defended. I am withheld from attending the ceremony 
which is to take place on the 17th, by various occupations which 
take up all my leisure, and must content myself with expressing 
my satisfaction that it was so fully shown by our late civil war, 
that those who have inherited from the noble stock of the Pilgrim 
fathers, the region once defended by his valor, inherit also the 
courage and resolution which have made his name famous in onr 
history. 

" I am. Sir, with great respect, your obedient servant, 

W. C. Bryant." 



219 89-^. 








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